The largest nickel producer in the Philippines Nickel Asia Corp said it expects shipments to be the same in 2019 as last year, but plans to increase domestic sales to maximize profits.

As the world’s second largest nickel supplier, Nickel Asia accounts for about half of the world’s nickel ore production. Its ore is exported to customers in China and Japan who process it into stainless steel and use it for battery materials.

However, Emmanuel Samson, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Nickel Asia, said that after lifting the ban on metal exports to China in 2017, Indonesian miners began to challenge the status of Philippine miners. Indonesia’s largest nickel producer has been increasing exports to China, while Chinese buyers prefer Indonesian ore because of its higher grade.

To compensate for the loss of market share in China, Nickel Asia will increase shipments to its two Philippine smelters. These factories used to buy ore linked to LME prices and then ship it to Japan for further processing into “first-class” nickel.

He said that this year’s nickel ore sales will be roughly equal to 19.3 million wet tons in 2018, up from 17.7 million wet tons in 2017.

The company operates four of the 30 nickel mines in the Philippines. The company’s net profit rose 9% last year to 3.01bn Philippine pesos ($57.1 million), up from 2.77bn last year, largely due to the rise in LME prices.

In 2018, the average price of nickel sold by LME to the two domestic processing plants was $5.95 per pound, compared with $4.67 in 2017.

On the other hand, the unprocessed pulp shipped to China last year accounted for 60% of the company’s total sales, 11.54 million wet tons, up from 9.64 million tons in 2017, although the average price fell to $21.53 from $24.42 the previous year.

Samson said that in order to benefit from the rising price of LME, Nickel Asia may increase its domestic business related to LME to 45% – 50%, and reduce its exports to China to 50% – 55%.

Nickel Asia is the only nickel miner in the Philippines with ownership of a processing plant, which makes the company “unique” compared with other Philippine miners. Nickel Asia’s fifth mine, Dinapigue, was acquired in 2015 and is still in exploration and development. The company expects shipments to begin next year or 2021, but does not disclose the estimated production.

Global metal producers expect nickel demand for electric vehicle batteries to grow substantially in the next few years.