As Indonesia recalibrates its nickel exports policy, Philippine producers are urging the government to strengthen the country’s investment environment by removing permitting and regulatory bottlenecks to support its push into downstream nickel processing.
In a statement, Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) President Atty. Dante R. Bravo emphasized that strengthening the Philippines’ investment climate remains essential to capturing greater value from the global energy transition.
“Continued improvements in permitting efficiency, regulatory predictability, and investment competitiveness will be critical to attracting downstream processing investments and expanding the country’s participation in higher-value segments of the critical minerals supply chain.
“We have the ore. We have growing interest from processing investors. What stands between the Philippines and a much larger role in the global battery and stainless steel supply chain is the speed and predictability of our own permitting system,” Bravo said.
Bravo said PNIA continues to work with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Anti-Red Tape Authority, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Energy, the Department of Finance, the Department of Science and Technology, and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to address these bottlenecks.
Likewise, PNIA called for closer regional cooperation among critical mineral-producing countries to strengthen supply chain resilience, promote responsible mining standards, and enhance ASEAN’s collective competitiveness.
“The goal is not to replace one dominant supplier with another. 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,” Bravo concluded.
PNIA said Indonesia’s pending decision on its 2026 Rencana Kerja dan Anggaran Biaya (RKAB), or nickel mining quota, underscores the growing importance of maintaining a diversified and resilient regional critical minerals supply chain. As one of the world’s leading nickel producers, the Philippines remains well-positioned to serve as a reliable long-term supplier and an increasingly attractive destination for critical minerals investment.
Downstream nickel
The Philippines remains one of the world’s leading nickel producers, accounting for approximately 10 percent of global nickel output and holding the world’s sixth-largest nickel reserves, according to the US Geological Survey’s 2025 Mineral Commodity Summaries.
In 2025, the country produced 67 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore, with more than 70 percent coming from PNIA member companies.
“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.”
“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. It is the foundation the Philippines now offers the region as it builds a more resilient, diversified critical minerals supply chain,” Bravo stressed.
Ongoing efforts to strengthen partnerships with countries such as Canada, alongside broader ASEAN cooperation, also present new opportunities to diversify markets, attract responsible investments, and reinforce the region’s role in supplying critical minerals for the global energy transition.
“Canada is one of the world’s most credible voices on responsible critical minerals sourcing, and it is actively seeking to diversify its supply partnerships in the Indo-Pacific,” Bravo said. “A concluded Philippines–Canada FTA, alongside a broader ASEAN–Canada agreement, would give global manufacturers and battery producers a genuine, rules-based alternative sourcing option, one grounded in ASEAN supply, not concentrated in any single country. The timing of these negotiations, alongside the recalibration of nickel supply policy across the region, is not a coincidence. It reflects a broader global shift toward diversified, trusted sourcing of critical minerals.”
Supply chain diversification instead of single-market dependence
PNIA emphasized that the Philippines views Indonesia as a strategic partner in strengthening ASEAN’s role in the global nickel value chain. Earlier this year, PNIA and the Asosiasi Penambang Nikel Indonesia (APNI) signed a memorandum of understanding to deepen cooperation in responsible mining, sustainability, investment promotion, and knowledge sharing, dubbing their partnership the “IndoPhil Nickel Corridor.”
PNIA said recent market developments also reinforce the importance of diversifying critical minerals supply chains as global demand for nickel continues to grow.
“The world learned, through cobalt, through rare earths, and now through nickel, what happens when critical minerals supply is concentrated in too few hands or too few markets,” said Bravo. “ASEAN has the geology, the labor, and now, increasingly, the capital, partnerships, technology, and market for its more than 700 million population to ensure that does not happen with nickel. The Philippines intends to be a central part of that diversification, alongside Indonesia, not instead of it.”
