Ehrmann Group is the world's largest manufacturer of special steel, manganese alloy and nickel alloy, headquartered in Paris, France. The Group has three main businesses: Manganese products business, nickel products business, alloy steel and special steel products business, all of which are in a leading position in the world. The products are sold to Arcelor, JFE Steel, Baosteel, Airbus, Boeing, GE and other world famous enterprises.
Output and production reports
Recently, nickel producer Eramet (Eramet) released the third quarter of 2023 production report, nickel iron production 21,800 tons, an increase of 18.48%, an increase of 23.86%, nickel ore 5.708 million wet tons.
Among them, the nickel mine of the SLN project in New Caledonia produced 1.461 million wet tons; Ferronickel (FeNi) production was 12,800 metal tons. The WedaBay Nickel project in Indonesia will produce 4.247 million tonnes of high-grade nickel ore and 0.9 million tonnes of ferro nickel (NPI) metal.
Nickel supply and demand were balanced in the quarter, but surplus remained in the first nine months of 2023. However, due to the large destocking in the early period, the current nickel inventory of LME and SHFE is still at a low level, which can not represent the current supply and demand situation of the global market.
Strategic growth project
During the quarter, Eramet and BASF continued their research on the SonicBay project, a hydrometallurgical project (HPAL) intended to produce battery-grade nickel and cobalt intermediates using laterite ore extracted from the WedaBay mine. Given the progress made in discussions on project execution and financing strategies, an investment decision is now expected in the first half of 2024.
Future outlook
Although the European stainless steel market remains sluggish, the demand for primary nickel is expected to continue to grow in the fourth quarter of 2023 due to the recovery of the Chinese battery market, and the production of primary nickel is expected to increase, with new projects in Indonesia (nickel matte and HPAL) contributing significantly. As a result, the oversupply is expected to continue in 2023.
