The Russian miner attributed the drop to adverse geopolitical risks and delayed furnace repairs.

Russia-based Nornickel, a major producer of palladium and high-grade nickel, has revealed it expects nickel and palladium output in 2024 to be down on 2023 levels.

Nornickel reported its nickel production dropped 5% y-o-y in 2023 to 209kt, with palladium production declining by 4% to 2.692M troy ounces. Meanwhile, platinum output increased by 2% in 2023 to 664koz. This year’s nickel output is expected to be 184-194kt, while palladium and platinum are anticipated to range 2.296-2.451M troy ounces and 567-605koz respectively. It attributed this year’s anticipated decline to an adverse geopolitical situation and planned capital repairs of the flash smelting furnace #2 at Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant. This maintenance has been delayed for two years relating to equipment supply.

Earlier last year, Nornickel revealed that Asia had overtaken Europe to become its main market. It follows a pledge by CEO, Vladimir Potanin, to build closer ties with countries including China, Turkey and Morocco. The company also started selling spot volumes of nickel to China using a mixture of LME and ShFE prices. Those based on ShFE pricing were reportedly being paid for in Yuan in an attempt to boost sales.