Philippine nickel ore exports are seen declining by up to 17% off the lowest price.
Manila, July 10 (Reuters)-Philippine nickel ore Exports down by 17 percent this year because of weaker prices curb output in the world’s second largest supplier, said the nickel mining industry group Chairman on Tuesday.
A shipment of nickel ore, used to make stainless steel, can be dropped to 30-35 million tons from 36 million tons by the year 2017, Dante Bravo, President of the Nickel Industry Association of the Philippines, said at a media forum.
“Overall, we estimate exports this year will be less than what we saw last year because the price of nickel grade down now is weak,” he said.
The Philippines is the supplier of nickel ore to world number two after Indonesia, the majority of the production was sent to the main buyer, namely China.
Nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange fell to eight week low of $13,830 per ton on Friday and have lost almost 5% this month, caught up in the action of broad-based selling of risky assets amid the deepening trade tensions between the United States and China.
The President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte warned last week he would soon stop mining in Southeast Asian countries because of environmental damage caused.
There are 50 mines operating in the Philippines, 30 of which are extracting ore of nickel. But the industry accounts for less than 1 percent against the gross domestic product, with only 3 percent of the 9 million acres identified by the State as the owner of mineral deposits.
“The challenge is to be able to overcome the communication gap,” said Bravo, about threats Duterte.
“We considered damaging to the (environmental), rather than contribute to the economy. We need to be better understood. “
In April, Duterte told the miners to menghutankan back area where they operate, said he will revoke their permission if he doesn’t see trees as tall as him in six months.
Bravo said the miners have been intensifying their re-greening efforts, by planting approximately 4.2 million trees in mining area in the region of southern Mindanao and Palawan in the southwestern province.
(Reported by Enrico Dela Cruz, written by Manolo Serapio Jr., edited by Kenneth Maxwell and Joseph Radford)
