PH pushed for membership in study group

MANILA –The Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) will officially lobby for the Philippines’ to be included as a member of the International Study Group (INSG) to strengthen its efforts to develop an industry roadmap that will create value-add to the economy and cement the Philippines’ position as a key player in the global nickel trade.

PNIA reached this conclusion after attending the recently held INSG meeting in October in Lisbon, Portugal as an industry observer. The meeting was attended by more than 60 government and leading industry representatives from member countries and international organizations,

who participated in an exhaustive two-day discussion of current global nickel market trends. Established in 1990, INSG is an autonomous, intergovernmental organization composed of nickel producing, using and trading countries. INSG works to improve transparency in the global metals market and to provide a forum to discuss nickel related issues of nickel producing and consuming countries and their concerned industries. PNIA Chairman Isidro C. Alcantara said the Philippines will economically benefit from joining INSG considering the sustained demand for nickel driven by the steel manufacturing industry and advancements in the e-vehicle sector particularly in Europe, Japan and China. “As the leading nickel laterite ore supplier country in the world, our country’s significant contributions to the global nickel value chain is widely recognized. For our part, we need access to INSG’s wealth of knowledge and experience as input to our own roadmap to make it more responsive to global opportunities and become more effective in promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth for our country,” said Alcantara. Atty. Dante Bravo, President of PNIA, said the engagement with INSG started during the conduct of PNIA’s Nickel Initiative held in March this year, where the Philippines was formally invited to join the global nickel group. “While we remain optimistic as an industry, there are uncertainties and volatilities in the world nickel trade that we must not ignore. We would be in a better position to leverage on opportunities and mitigate the effects of headwinds if we engage in these international discussions,” said Bravo. INSG meetings are hosted semi-annually in April and October. The meetings are exclusive to members and it covers wide range of topics such as latest research on nickel, supply and demand trends, sustainable nickel mining practices, and global best practices