Philippines to gain from Indonesia’s nickel policy recalibration

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s nickel miners are looking to take advantage of Indonesia’s quota review to position itself as a stable source of nickel.

The Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) said the country remains a reliable nickel supplier and a growing destination for critical mineral investments.

“Indonesia’s quota decisions each year are a reminder of a simple fact, global nickel supply cannot responsibly rest on a single country’s policy calendar,” PNIA president Dante Bravo said.

“The Philippines has consistently supplied the region through every cycle, through quota tightening, through quota easing, through pandemic disruption. That consistency is not an accident,” he added.

The industry group’s statement came as Indonesia, the world’s top nickel supplier, is yet to finalize its annual nickel production quota for 2026.

Bravo stressed the need to diversify critical mineral supply, amid the growing demand for critical minerals.

“The Philippines intends to be a central part of that diversification, alongside Indonesia, not instead of it,” he added.

He added that the group is pursuing closer ASEAN cooperation among critical mineral-producing countries to bolster the supply chain, promote better mining standards and improve regional competitiveness.

“The goal is not to replace one dominant supplier with another,” Bravo said. “The goal is a genuinely balanced, multi-country, multi-market critical minerals supply chain for the energy transition, one where the Philippines, Indonesia and our ASEAN neighbors each play a durable role.”

Meanwhile, PNIA said that a stronger business environment is key for the Philippines to capture greater value from the global energy transition.

Bravo said that improvements to the country’s permitting efficiency, regulatory predictability and investment competitiveness is critical for attracting more downstream mineral processing investments.

The Philippines account for 10 percent of global nickel production and places sixth among the biggest nickel reserves in the world, PNIA said citing the 2025 US Geological Survey.

The country produced 67 million wet metric tons of nickel ore last year, with more than 70 percent of output coming from PNIA member companies.