Nickel hit a one-year low of $8,680 per tonne on the LME last week and is down more than 10% this year.
World nickel production is expected to grow by an average 3.4% each year until 2021, the research arm of Fitch Group said in the report. However, production growth rates during the next five years will remain lower than the 5.3% average rates achieved between 2012 and 2016, they said, citing higher nickel prices experienced before the commodities slump as the main reason.
While the Philippines will remain the world’s largest nickel producer in absolute numbers in the years to come, its global share of the market will gradually be reduced as ores are depleted and stringent environmental regulations choke new potential projects.
Nickel prices have fallen this year to hit an 11-month-low of $8,700 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange (LME) last month amid concerns of rising supply from Indonesia and the Philippines as well as weak demand from stainless steel mills in China.
