Global nickel smelting falls as Indonesia production slows
Release Date:
2025-12-16
Global nickel smelting activity fell in November, driven primarily by a notable decline in production across Indonesia, the world's largest nickel supplier, Kallanish learns from Earth-i.
The Savant metals monitoring Index rose by 0.4% to 18%, indicating that almost one-fifth of total global smelting capacity was inactive over the month.
The slowdown was largely attributed to a 2.4% decline in Indonesia, pushing its inactivity rate to 16.1% — the highest level recorded since March 2024. This drop was concentrated in the production of lower-grade nickel pig iron (NPI) and higher-quality ferronickel, which both saw sub-indices decline.
While Indonesia's NPI segment, a major source of global supply, declined by 2.1%, an increase in NPI activity in China was not enough to offset the Indonesian slump, leading to a rise in the global NPI inactive capacity index.
In contrast, production of higher-grade Class 1 nickel, which can be delivered to the London Metal Exchange (LME), continued to strengthen. Its inactivity sub-index fell by 0.8% to just 4.7%. This disparity suggests that Class 1 inventory stocks on the LME are likely to continue rising in the short term, despite the broader smelting slowdown.
Regionally, Europe and the Americas recorded the highest levels of inactive capacity, at 53.6% and 31.4% respectively, highlighting a stark contrast to the stronger performance seen in Africa and Asia & Oceania.
From: Kallanish
Related News
Business
Contact Us
Fax:
+86-571-88230113
Address:
28F, Building A, Chengxing International Building, Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, China
