Philippine nickel miner, Nickel Asia Corporation, expects demand for nickel to remain strong due to increasing demand for stainless steel globally, mainly driven by recovery in the construction and manufacturing industry.
Additionally, COVID-19 related shutdowns and Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban is spurring the rise of global nickel prices, the company stated. In H1 2021, the company sold 8.3mn mt of nickel ore compared to 7.3mn mt in H1 2020. Under this, the firm sold 4.56mn mt of nickel ore concentrate saprolite and limonite in H1 2021 compared to 3.28mn mt in the same period last year. Additionally, it sold 3.74mn mt of nickel ore concentrates to its Coral Bay and Taganito HPAL plants in H1 2021 compared to 4.02mn mt sold in H1 2020.
The company’s net income in the first half of 2021 surged 6 times to PHP2.73bn ($135.9bn) compared to PHP401.4mn in the same period last year.
($1 = PHP20.09)