Nickel price hits 4-year low as gloom offsets potential Indonesia cuts
Indonesia is now considering deep cuts to nickel mining quotas as it seeks to boost slumping prices of the metal.
Indonesia’s Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita told reporters on Friday that the government is discussing the possibility of bringing forward a ban of mineral ore exports from 2022.
He said there is no decision made on the timing of the ban, but that President Joko Widodo has asked for input from his ministers.
The ban, on one hand, is about pushing domestic industries to process more mineral ores locally, Lukita said.
“From a trading point of view, if this export is restricted sooner, it will disrupt exports of around $4 billion in ore.”
Current mining regulation allow exports of unprocessed mineral ore until January 2022.
(By Bernadette Christina Munthe and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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