The regular meeting of International Nickel Study Group was held on April 4 and 3 in Lisbon, Portugal.

In then lecture presentation, INSG made a presentation of the world's nickel production volume as the primary product in the calendar year 2013 being 1.94 million tonnes which represented an increase of 10.9% versus 1.75 million tonnes of the result in the calendar year 2012.

Besides, the production volume for the calendar year 2014 is expected to be 1.94 million tonnes and the forecast (1.97 million tonnes) released last October has been adjusted downward. The factor particularized as the background for the above is the future production volume of nickel pig iron in China is not clear.

On the other hand, the consumption was released as being 1.75 million tonnes in the calendar year 2012 and 1.77 million tonnes in the calendar year 2013, and the forecast for the calendar year 2014 was 1.89 million tonnes. The consumption is up from the previous forecast.

China's nickel pig iron production raised the level of nickel production in 2012 and 2013, and as Indonesia has been imposing an export ban on nickel ore since January 2014, there has been some change in the supply situation for low grade nickel ore as raw materials. There is a possibility that the future nickel production will be down from the forecast made by INSG subject to this ore export ban.

For a reference, although the oversupply situation of the production being more than the consumption is anticipated to be improved to some extent from last year, it is still anticipated that the production will exceed the consumption.

• [Editor:Juan]