Norilsk Nickel said it expects the Nickel market surplus to expand to 95,000 tonnes in 2021 from 87,000 tonnes in 2020 as Indonesia's Nickel pig iron (NPI) production exceeds demand.
With Indonesian nickel producers increasing their supply by 370000NPI this year and additional supplies from other regions, total nickel production will increase to 2.7 million tons by 2021, and the demand for stainless steel and battery-related nickel is expected to increase to 2.65 million tons.
Norilsk Nickel predicts that if NPI production in Indonesia is scaled up, there will be room for category 1 Nickel producers to meet non-stainless steel-related demand.
It is expected that the production of 300 series stainless steel in Indonesia will increase as the production scale of Aoyama and Delong in Indonesia will more than double compared with the same period last year.
China will lead the growth in stainless steel production, but steady growth in other regions has been identified.
Norilsk Nickel hopes sales of electric vehicles will boost thanks to government stimulus measures and efforts to become "carbon neutral", with battery-related consumption estimated to reach 600,000-900,000 tonnes by 2030.
Stainless steel is known to account for about 70% of nickel consumption, according to the Nickel Institute, but nickel consumption is expected to increase rapidly in the future due to electric vehicles, with sales in Europe in particular expected to double from 2020.
Previously, the International Nickel Industry Research Group (INSG) predicted that global nickel production would reach 2.718 million tons in 2021, with a projected global nickel usage of 2.673 million tons in 2021 and a nickel surplus of 45,000 tons in 2021
