Monsoon Season in Philippines Drove Declines in China Nickel Ore Imports in October

SHANGHAI, Nov 23 (SMM) - Customs data showed that China imported 4.476 million mt (denotes both dmt and wmt) of nickel ore in October, down 21.3% month on month and 12.2% year on year. The imports from the Philippines stood at 4.01 million mt, a decrease of 22.8% on the month and 12.63% on the year. The imports from New Caledonia stood at 281,000 mt, a decrease of 3.2% from the previous month.

The total import volume of laterite nickel ore decreased significantly in October, mainly because the main mining area in southern Philippines entered the rainy season. The difficulties in mining and nickel ore shipment have shrunk the shipment volume from Surigao mining area. In addition, the import data of nickel sulphide ore in October dropped significantly to 29,000 mt, a decrease of 47.5% from the previous month.

The import of nickel sulphide ore from Russia fell by 45% from the previous month to 13,340 mt. The import volume from Australia and Zimbabwe both fell over 30% from the previous month. The National Day holidays in October will also affect the number of customs declarations, thereby reducing the import volume of nickel ore. The imports may continue to decline in November as many mining areas in the Philippines, which is a key nickel ore supplier, entered the rainy season.