China Nickel Ore Lifeline at Risk as Philippines Talks Tough
- Duterte’s pick for environment brief is a mining critic
- China Merchants flags risk of crackdown on nation’s miners
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Nickel ore shipments from the Philippines may be jeopardized by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s appointment of an anti-mining crusader to head the country’s environment department, a move that may potentially disrupt supplies to Chinese buyers.
Concerns that the new government will limit ore exports helped push nickel higher on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday, analysts from Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said in a note. The metal closed up 0.4 percent. It lost 0.7 percent to trade at $9,165 a ton by 9:27 a.m. in Shanghai on Thursday after the International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for U.S. growth this year.