NEW DELHI : Interacting with the FICCI members today, Philippine Secretary for Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo today mentioned that bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with India is under discussion and Philippines is keen to deepen engagement with Indian businesses in a number of areas like automotive, battery, value added IT & ITES services, pharmaceuticals, health, agriculture and many more.
In particular, Philippines side invited India to source nickel from it that is used for battery manufacturing. This was part of Philippines strategy to diversify away from its current 98 per cent dependence on Chinese buyers of nickel. Philippines accounts for 11% of global production of nickel and is the world’s second-largest producer of nickel in 2023. In his address to Indian business leaders, Secretary Manalo emphasised the strategic importance of developing the Philippines’ nickel sector with Indian participation. “The Philippines is the world’s largest exporter of nickel ore with exports valued at approximately $1.95 billion, chiefly used in lithium-ion battery production,” he said. “Currently, nearly 98 per cent of our exports go to China, with Japan importing the remaining 2 per cent. We are quite interested to see India become a player in our nickel sector, not just for export diversification but crucially for processing and development of a value chain. India imports about $707 million worth of raw nickel from Russia, Norway, and Japan” Manalo noted, suggesting an opportunity for supply chain realignment. This represents a natural complementarity between our economies that remains largely unexploited.”
