Surigo Mining Area In The Philippines May Implement A Blockade Policy. What Is The Impact Of Chinese Nickel Ore Imports?

According to the latest news, due to the impact of COVID-19, the port city of Surigao in the Philippines will be blocked from March 18 to March 31, and all foreign ships entering the country will be prohibited from entering, but no official documents are currently available.

Surigao is one of the main nickel ore producing areas in the Philippines, and the quality of nickel ore in the mining area is good, but the Surigao area is still in the rainy season. According to the experience of the past years, it will take at least April to gradually return to normal. If the blockade is implemented , it will affect some Chinese nickel ore exports, but because the ban time is still in the rainy season, the impact is expected to be small.

The current concerns are:
1. The epidemic situation in the Philippines or overseas continued to worsen, the scope of the ban was expanded, and the remaining mining areas also implemented closed policies;
2. The ban has been extended. Due to the seasonal characteristics of nickel ore imports, domestic nickel ore has been in a state of net consumption so far in 2020. If nickel ore is still unable to resume normal imports in April, domestic nickel pig iron plant nickel ore inventory will be partially sold out.

It is reported that around 2 pm on the same day, the Surigao government ordered that national vessels affected by COVID-19 and African swine fever need to be stored in a designated area. The directive requires all ships from China and South Korea to be on standby in the designated area and carry out crew operations. A 14-day quarantine to protect the province’s people from the epidemic.

The Governor’s executive order was signed on March 6 and announced to the Philippine News Agency on Friday (March 13), specifying that latitude 09 ° 35,00 ° 125 is the designated place for mooring or rafting for 14 days.

The 14-day quarantine period is calculated from the date the ship leaves the port of the country designated by the order.

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Posted by kaysuns.com