Summary
- The benchmark peaked in 2022. The World Bank's annual average LME nickel price rose from $9,595 per tonne in 2016 to $25,834 in 2022, then fell to $15,162 in 2025, about 41% below the peak.
- Refined nickel is imported near the LME price. Eight large importers declared between 92% and 113% of the annual LME average in every year that passed the checks.
- Nickel ore is a different market. China declared 35 to 56 million tonnes a year in 2017 to 2025 (2023 excluded) at $59 to $113 per tonne, and the Philippines supplied about 90% of the 2025 total at $48 per tonne.
- The same customs code holds two kinds of product. In 2025 China declared $1,214 to $2,088 per tonne for ore and concentrate from Russia, Zambia, Brazil and Australia, against $48 to $133 from the Philippines, New Caledonia, Guatemala and Cote d'Ivoire.
- Indonesia switched from exporting ore to importing it. China declared 23.9 million tonnes of Indonesian ore in 2019 and 0.8 million in 2021, and Indonesia itself declared 15.8 million tonnes of imports in 2025, almost all from the Philippines.
Nickel ore is priced per tonne of ore, not per tonne of contained nickel, and one customs code holds very different products. The report explains this and the other limits.
What is in the full report
5 pages, as a PDF.
- The LME benchmark for 2016 to 2025 with year-on-year changes and a chart, and Eramet's reported ore price
- Refined nickel import prices for eight importers, and each as a share of LME
- Ore import prices and quantities for China, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia
- China's ore price by supplier, split into lower-priced and higher-priced origins
- How China's average ore price compares with Eramet's reported CIF China price
- The data limits and which figures were excluded, and why