From the perspective of the supply of traditional nickel sulfide resources in China, the supply of nickel resources in China is mainly composed of two parts, one is the supply of primary nickel, accounting for about 72.9% of the overall share; the other is from the recycled nickel market, accounting for about 27.1% of the market share, The output when nickel prices were high was around 100,000 tons. In recent years, with the use of laterite nickel ore in stainless steel, the proportion of recycled nickel in market supply has dropped to below 5%.

According to relevant data, in 2019, China's primary nickel ore output is 755,000 tons to 780,000 tons, equivalent to 150,000 tons to 155,000 tons of nickel metal.

According to customs statistics, in 2019, China imported 56.132 million tons of nickel ore and its concentrate, calculated based on the ratio of nickel in laterite nickel ore 1.75%, nickel sulfide ore 4.5%, and imported nickel ore in laterite nickel ore accounted for 70% of the proportion The average nickel ore content of imported nickel ore is 2.6%, and the water content is 5%~10%. According to the metal recovery rate of 90%~95%, the amount of nickel metal is estimated to be 850,000 to 1.2 million tons, with an average of 1.025 million tons (this is The theoretical value, because laterite nickel ore is relatively high, the actual value may be closer to about 900,000 tons). In 2019, China imported 194,000 tons of refined nickel and alloys. The combined nickel metal imports of the two are about 1.22 million tons. In 2019, China's primary nickel metal supply is about 1.48 million tons. At the same time, according to industry survey data, China's domestic production of recycled nickel equivalent to nickel metal is about 100,000 tons in 2019.

Therefore, the more accurate estimate of China's total nickel metal supply in 2019 is about 1.48 million tons. Among them, the supply of nickel sulfide ore is 345,000 tons-350,000 tons (including domestic nickel 150,000 tons-155,000 tons, imported nickel 194,000 tons), the supply of laterite nickel ore is about 1.025 million tons, the supply of renewable nickel resources About 100,000 tons.