The Indonesian government banned local nickel exports last month in response to an investigation into "massive violations" of export rules, but said it would resume after the investigation. Recently, it was reported that the results have been announced that the normal export of nickel ores below 1.7% will resume before 2020, and the ban on nickel ores will still take effect in 2020.

It is understood that recently, the Minister of maritime and investment coordination took the lead in holding a coordination meeting and issued a statement that the director general of mines and coal adopted letter 1911 / 30 / DJB / 2019 dated November 8, 2019, which replied to the actual progress of local smelters and nickel export policies, including: according to regulation No. 11 of esdm minister 2019, nickel export approval (PE) It is suggested that the deadline of less than 1.7% is December 31, 2019; the nickel content is less than 1.7% and PE is obtained, and the company can sell nickel abroad before 2020 Before that, the Indonesian government announced an export ban on nickel ore from 2022 to January 2020, which boosted the price of nickel at home and abroad to soar This week, the price of medium and high nickel mines kept stable. According to the SMM nickel industry chain in depth report, the price of medium and high nickel mines kept stable this week. The survey results of Indonesia nickel mine inspection events dragged on and on, and it was not easy to load goods without new ships. However, the number of Philippine mines was very small due to the rainy season. SMM Philippines ni1.8% laterite nickel price (CIF) was flat last week at US $72-73 / wet ton, Indonesia ni1.65% laterite nickel price (CIF) was flat last week at US $62-63 / wet ton.

Due to the scarcity of goods in the market, the trade is basically unable to quote. For ferronickel plants, due to the inconsistent situation of ore preparation in the early stage, many enterprises now actually have rigid procurement demand, but the market supply is hard to find. SMM expects that if some nickel mines that meet the requirements of the policy can ship normally next week, the market transaction center may move up.

In terms of sea freight, due to the delay in the delivery of nickel ore ships, it is difficult to load the old ships without new ships, and there are many vacant ships, so it is necessary to seek other businesses. The decline of sea freight of nickel ore is obvious. As of Friday, the price of sea freight for nickel ore from the Philippines to Lianyungang was 10.3-10.8 USD / ton, down 1 USD / ton from last week. The overall performance of the shipping market was also poor, with the BDI index at 1428 on November 7, down 269 points from November 1. (From SMM)