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Indonesia and China to scale back nickel output to control prices: Indonesia and China — who produce 70% of the world’s nickel — are expected to collectively cut extraction by at least 100k tons in 2024 to boost prices and alleviate oversupply of the critical metal amid a continued drop in demand, Reuters reports, citing analysts from Macquarie. The move aims to rally nickel prices, which have dropped to USD 16k/ton from the 2022 peak of USD 100k/ton. The 2022 record was driven by reduced output projections from major producer Russia due its war with Ukraine and the economic fallout of the invasion has seen several Western mining firms put on ice nickel expansions as the market remains oversaturated, the newswire writes.
Drastic cuts needed to level the global market: Indonesia contributed half of global mined supplies last year at 3.4 mn metric tons, some 30% of its output in 2020. However, some 250k tons of cuts from the global supply are needed this year to balance the nickel market, Reuters quotes Benchmark Mineral Intelligence as noting. Some 230k tons of cuts have been made so far, representing 6% of potential supply in 2024.
