30 October 2023 – The Indonesian Nickel Miners Association recently warned that the country’s high-grade nickel ore reserves could be exhausted in six years. The buying mood in the United States and the economic development in Japan continue to show robustness. And higher margins are expected for Japan in the coming reporting season due to the positively developing economic situation.
USA: Halloween lifts consumer mood
According to inflation statistics, candy is currently 7.5 percent more expensive in the USA than last year. However, Americans are not letting this dampen their Halloween celebrations. According to the latest survey by the retail association NRF, they will spend a total of 3.6 billion US dollars on sweets – half a billion more than last year. Total spending on Halloween is estimated at 12.2 billion – this would be a record and 15 per cent more than in 2022. Thus, consumption is still proving amazingly robust.
Japan reporting season: higher margins expected
In Japan, the reporting season for the second quarter of the 2023 financial year, which began in April, starts this week. Business conditions are likely to have been quite solid, given the robust US economy, China’s stabilising recovery and the further weakening of the yen.
Accordingly, analysts on average expect that profits may have risen by up to nine per cent year-on-year. Sales, meanwhile, are likely to have increased only minimally – which would mean a widening of profit margins.
If the companies close the first half of the year with solid results, it is to be expected that the forecasts for the full year will be raised. As a result, share buybacks – so far slightly below last year’s record level due to this year’s economic situation – could pick up further in the second half of the year.
Indonesia: Reserves of high-grade nickel ore may be depleted in around six years
We have already emphasised several times that Indonesia’s nickel ore reserves could be depleted in the near future. The intensive mining of the past years and the need for the many new nickel smelters in Indonesia had also prompted the Indonesian government to issue cautious warnings from time to time.
More sustainable use of reserves demanded
Now, according to media reports, the Indonesian Nickel Miners Association warned at an event of the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) that nickel reserves could be exhausted within the next six years. It also called for a more sustainable use of the remaining high-grade nickel ore reserves.
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