SHANGHAI, Apr 11 (SMM) – Nickel ore prices are likely to stay weak in the second quarter of this year due to rising supply from Indonesia and the Philippines.

SMM expects Indonesian medium-grade nickel ore with 1.65% Ni to trade at $35-37/wmt cif in May. This compared with $43.5-44.5/wmt recorded the first week of April.

Indonesia’s nickel ore exports have been on the rise since the country loosened some grip on the exports at the start of 2017. SMM data showed that the country has since approved 32.09 million wmt of nickel ore exports as of Monday April 9.

This includes quotas of 1 million wmt for PT Macika Mada Madana and 2.7 million wmt for Antam announced earlier this month.

A total of 9.58 million wmt of nickel ore were shipped to China as of the end of March, SMM calculated, and some 8.45 million wmt of which were of medium grade.

Separately, nickel ore supply from the Philippines is also expected to increase in the second quarter as the rainy season comes to an end.

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