From June 3 to June 5, the Indonesia Critical Minerals 2026 was held at the Pullman Jakarta Central Park in Jakarta, Indonesia. The conference was organized by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) and co-organized by the Indonesia Nickel Miners Association (APNI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, the National Economic Council of Indonesia, and MMR, with a strategic partnership established with the Jakarta Futures Exchange.
The conference featured six dedicated forums: the main forum, the nickel and cobalt forum, the tin forum, the coal & energy transition forum, the aluminum forum, and the sub-forum, bringing together 3,500+ attendees from 45 countries and regions worldwide, with 120+ speakers sharing their insights on market prices, supply-demand patterns, industry policies, low-carbon development, and ESG construction, etc.
Additionally, SMM has also meticulously arranged two rounds of panel discussions:
- Senior Executives' Roadmaps to Overcome Resource, Cost, Technology & ESG Challenges
- The "Green Premium" Myth vs. Reality: Who Will Pay for Decarbonization in the Critical Minerals Supply Chain?
Conference Background
In recent years, global nickel and cobalt raw material supply has frequently encountered various disruptions: Indonesia significantly lowered its nickel ore mining quota to 260–270 million mt, tightening nickel resource release at the source; the DRC continuously reduced cobalt ore export quotas, leading to a marked contraction in tradable cobalt raw materials worldwide. Multiple supply variables continued to roil nickel and cobalt commodity futures. Meanwhile, Indonesia is not only the core hub of the global nickel industry chain but also a key production area for global new cobalt supply at this stage. Its industrial control policies, commissioning pace of capacity, and industry chain layout changes directly shape the evolution of the global nickel-cobalt supply-demand pattern.
Currently, the global nickel and cobalt industry is at a critical development stage featuring supply-demand restructuring, policy innovation, and value reassessment. To accurately forecast the nickel and cobalt market trends in 2026, deeply analyze the latest industrial control details in Indonesia, and help the upstream and downstream of the industry chain break down collaboration barriers, the Nickel and Cobalt Forum was launched. The forum brought together global mines, smelters, trading firms, downstream end-users, and investment and financing institutions to conduct in-depth discussions on key topics such as market supply and demand trends, policies and regulations, production technology iteration, and cross-border industrial cooperation, jointly exploring new growth drivers for high-quality industry development.
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June 4: Keynote Speeches
Keynote Speech: Mining Regulatory Outlook: RKAB Quota Planning and Indonesia's Next-Phase Downstream Mineral Expansion Path
Guest Speaker: Totoh Abdul Fatah, Secretary General of the Directorate General of Mineral and Coal, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources
Totoh Abdul Fatah noted that RKAB is the key policy instrument for Indonesia to regulate mineral output, coordinate the orderly rollout of industries, and align with the nation's downstream industrialization priorities. Indonesia is endowed with exceptional mineral and coal resources, with significant reserves and capacity in several key strategic commodities including nickel, cobalt, copper, tin, bauxite, gold and silver, and iron ore. Leveraging these unique resource advantages, Indonesia holds a critical strategic position in the global mineral supply chain, and its value is especially prominent in the energy transition wave, providing strong support for the development of power batteries, renewable energy equipment, and high-end manufacturing.
The next phase of downstream mineral development is not about curbing growth, but about improving development quality, clarifying development direction, strengthening regulatory management, and reinforcing the sustainability of growth. Future smelter layout must match ore supply capability, be aligned with resource conservation, and coordinate multiple factors including energy infrastructure readiness, environmental protection access standards, and domestic industry value addition. In light of these considerations, the Indonesian government is promoting an industrial logic shift from pure capacity expansion to strategic optimization of resource allocation, ensuring that mineral resources are precisely directed to industry segments that can maximize national economic benefits.
Indonesia's downstream mineral industrialization has made concrete progress. Currently, 14 smelters are in operation, primarily producing products such as nickel oxide, pig iron, and copper cathode. Covering both existing operating plants and new projects under construction, the entire industry chain has attracted a total realized investment of $7.849 billion. Breakdown: nickel sector investment of $2.535 billion, aluminum sector $2.181 billion, iron ore projects $47 million, and copper sector $3.084 billion. This is continuously improving the supporting system of the domestic mineral industry chain. This progress demonstrates that Indonesia's downstream mineral policy has achieved tangible results. However, challenges remain for the industry: not only must new smelting projects be completed and commissioned on schedule, but they also require stable supporting supply to achieve efficient operations, green and low-carbon production, and deep integration into the domestic industry chain value system.
Indonesia's development direction is very clear: the downstream transformation of minerals will continue to advance, and during the implementation process, policy enforcement constraints and top-level strategic guidance will be further strengthened. The RKAB management system and ore source allocation control rules are key to building a robust and more resilient industrial ecosystem. Future smelting project planning needs to coordinate four key dimensions: sustainable resource development, supply-demand market equilibrium, ESG compliance implementation, and enhancement of national value added. Indonesia has always been open to quality investment, especially quality investment, relying on foreign capital to achieve technology transfer and localization, expand local employment, and support long-term economic growth. In other words, Indonesia's industrial development not only pursues growth, but is committed to achieving high-quality growth that is compliant, sustainable, and globally competitive.
Keynote Speech: Nickel at a Crossroads：A Five-Year Outlook on Global Nickel — Navigating Policy, Supply, and Demand Shifts
Speaker: Thomas Feng, Head of Industry Research, Shanghai Metals Market
Feng projects that the global primary nickel market will show a supply deficit in 2026, continue the oversupply trend in 2027, and shift to a tight balance in 2029. Regarding refined nickel prices, on the cost side, global sulfur supply and demand will face a persistent deficit in the next 2–3 years. In the case of short-term strait blockades, sulfur prices remain high, strengthening the cost support for the sulfur-MHP-refined nickel chain. From a macro perspective, the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict has triggered wild swings in energy prices, pushing up inflation expectations. In the short term, global commodity prices will face considerable fluctuations. In the long term, global geopolitical uncertainty may become the new normal in the future, increasing the volatility of refined nickel prices.
Nickel Ore Upstream Repricing: Indonesia's Benchmark Price Raise, Quota Tightening, and Increased Dependence on the Philippines
Indonesia Nickel Ore RKAB Quotas: Tight Balance Emerges as the 2026 Main Theme
According to SMM analysis, following the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources' (ESDM) official denial of market rumors that RKAB production quotas would be raised across the board by 25%–30%, the government will handle supplementary quotas under strict case-by-case reviews starting from H2 2026, evaluating each miner's compliance, capacity, and resource reserves. At its core, this constitutes a routine and orderly optimisation of the existing 260–270 million wmt quota cap, paving the way for a more stable and sustainable market environment.
Supply
RKAB Approval Progress: As of April, Indonesia's cumulative approved RKAB quotas stand at 240 million wmt. SMM expects that, under expectations of continued nickel ore supply tightening, supplementary quotas around mid-year 2026 will be approximately 15%.
Philippine Import Driver: SMM expects that this year, Indonesia's nickel ore imports from the Philippines will rise from approximately 15 million in 2025 to 22 million. Tightness in the domestic trade nickel ore supply will accelerate supplementation through imports from the Philippines.
Demand
Affected by the tight sulphur supply, MHP output has fallen short of earlier expectations. As a result, Indonesia's nickel ore demand for full-year 2026 is expected to be reduced to 303 million wmt.
In 2026, actual nickel ore production will remain constrained by factors such as the rainy season and the pace of RKAB quota approvals, leaving overall output below theoretical supply levels.
Panel Discussion: Upstream Opportunities & Challenges for Nickel Mine Owners
Moderator:
Enzo Brooklyn, Senior Nickel Analyst, SMM
Panelists:
Luca Maiotti, Policy Analyst, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Aldo Namora, President Director, PT Ceria Metalindo Prima
Jerome Baudelet, CEO, Eramet Indonesia
Patrick Lim, Country Head, HyperStrong Indonesia
Keynote Speech: Achieving Energy Efficiency and Operational Success: The MMD Approach at Mah Moe
Speaker: Fuad Budidarma Pratama, General Manager, MMD Mining Machinery Indonesia
Keynote Speech: Global Nickel Market Outlook
Speaker: Ricardo Ferreira, Director of Market Research and Statistics, International Nickel Study Group (INSG)
Ricardo Ferreira noted that global primary nickel production is estimated to have declined by approximately 4% YoY, measured across the full chain from raw ore mining to finished primary nickel products. Most of this decrease originated from Indonesia, while expectations also pointed to a pullback in Chinese nickel output. According to the monthly bulletin released earlier, global primary nickel already edged down by about 1% in Q1, with Indonesia down roughly 3% and China down about 1%.
Keynote Speech: New Refining Technologies for Laterite Nickel and Spent Batteries
Speaker: Dr. Chunwei Liu, Managing Director of Resource Extraction, Botree Recycling Technologies
Distribution of Laterite Nickel Ore Resources
Laterite nickel ore accounts for 55% of global nickel resources and is the main source of nickel for industrial production worldwide. With the continuous development and promotion of high-nickel batteries, market demand for nickel—and consequently for laterite nickel ore processing—has grown significantly.
Geographic concentration: Mainly distributed in tropical countries within 30° north and south of the equator.
Three core regions:
Southeast Asia: Indonesia, the Philippines (major laterite nickel ore producing areas).
Americas: Cuba, Brazil.
Oceania: Australia, New Caledonia.
Panel Discussion: Nickel Price Volatility, Product Spreads, and Policy Shifts: What Will Define the Market in the next 5 years?
Moderator: Slupek Kamila, Secretary-General, INSG
Panelists:
Jim Lennon, Analyst, Macquarie
Septian Hario Seto, Member, National Economic Council Republic of Indonesia
Denis Sharypin, Strategic Marketing Director, Norilsk Nickel
Edric Koh, Head of Corporate Sales, Asia, London Metal Exchange
Mark Selby, CEO & Director, Canada Nickel Company
Keynote Speech: Korean Battery Supply Chain Strategy and Indonesia's Role
Speaker: James (IKHWAN) Choi, Country Manager, Korea Office, SMM Korea Office
Keynote Speech: Retreat or Evolve? The Counter-Attack of High-Nickel Batteries under the LFP Siege: Solid State, 4680, and the "Range Anxiety" Premium
Speaker: Jared Zhu, Head of Consulting, Renewable Energy & Non-ferrous Metals, Shanghai Metals Market
Jared noted that LFP batteries have steadily increased their market share in power battery and energy storage markets in recent years. With the rapid development of emerging sectors such as humanoid robots, industrial robots, and electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL), ternary batteries, leveraging their performance advantages, are more competitive than LFP batteries. Solid-state batteries are regarded by the industry as a must-win field for future competition, but it is worth noting that this new technology, capable of rewriting industry rules, still has a long development cycle before full commercialization.
Positioning in the LFP Era
LFP Accelerates Replacement of Ni-Co-Mn in Energy Storage and EVs, Leading in Scale and Growth
SMM forecasts the global share of EV power battery types from 2026 to 2027, expecting LFP batteries to account for around 68% in 2026, with that ratio rising to about 70% in 2027.
For ESS battery types, from 2022 to 2025, the share of LFP batteries in global ESS batteries continued to rise, and in 2026, it is expected to increase to around 99%.
Keynote Speech: QMAG - Market Leader of Calcined Magnesia for Nickel/Cobalt MHP Production
Speaker: Christoph Beyer, Managing Director of Queensland Magnesia (QMAG) Dr.
Keynote Speech: Cobalt in Focus: Powering the Next Chapter of Critical Minerals
Speaker: Dinah McLeod, Director General, Cobalt Institute
June 5: Nickel and Cobalt Forum
Keynote Speeches
Keynote Speech: Balancing Risk and Reward: Investing in Indonesia's Nickel and Cobalt Value Chain
Speaker: Izzie Huo, Senior Research Fellow, Shanghai Metals Market
Panel Discussion: Too Much Nickel? Balancing Oversupply Risks with Long-Term Investment in Indonesia
Moderator: Jean Tang, Commercial Director, Shanghai Metals Market
Panelists:
Ali Safdar, Managing Director & Partner, BCG (Boston Consulting Group)
Arif Perdana Kusumah, Chairman, Forum Industri Nikel Indonesia (FINI)
Ditya Maharhani Harninda, Senior Vice President Corporate Banking 2, PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (Persero)
Keynote Speech: Valve Solutions for Severe Service in HPAL
Speaker: Changsong Deng, President of International Business Division, ANTIWEAR
Keynote Speech: Breaking the Import Dependency: Economics and Feasibility of Pyrite-based Acid Production for Indonesia's HPAL Supply Chain
Speaker: Bede Beresford Evans, President Director, PT Sumbawa Timur Mining
Keynote Speech: Key Technology and Economic Analysis of AI Power Microgrid Solutions in Mining
Speaker: Frank Qi, CEO, Ai Power (Suzhou) Technology Co., Ltd.
Keynote Speech: Value of Analytical Solutions in Mining Processes
Speaker: Toh Tiong Yen, Sales Manager, Malvern Panalytical
Keynote Speech: New Caledonia's Nickel Landscape
Speaker: Gabriel Bensimon, Special Advisor to the President of the Government on Nickel and Mining-Related Matters, The Gouvernment of New Caledonia
Keynote Speech: Global Flow of Nickel from Mining to End-Use
Speaker: Dr. Steukers Veronique, President, Nickel Institute
Primary nickel production is now dominated by Indonesia.
In 2025, Indonesia produced around 50% of the world's primary nickel, compared to just 6% a decade earlier.
Primary nickel production in the rest of the world declined.
In 2025, primary nickel production in the rest of the world, excluding Indonesia and China, accounted for just over 20% of the global total, down from 65% a decade earlier.
Indonesia and China are the core driving forces shaping the global nickel supply chain landscape.
From the perspective of nickel product circulation structure, NPI, backed by Indonesia's capacity advantage, firmly dominates the circulation mainstream; in terms of global nickel raw material supply by grade, Class 2 nickel accounts for approximately 58%, Class 1 nickel for just under 30%, and nickel chemical products for the remaining around 13%.
Panel Discussion: Meet the future of ESG: Standard, Challenges and Opportunities in Mining and Processing
Moderator: Katz Benjamin, Policy Analyst, OECD
Panelists: Dr. Chris Schlekat, Executive Director of NIPERA, Nickel Institute
Ning Wang, Manager, Sustainable Development Department, China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters
Yumo Li, Head of ESG Office in Tsingshan Board, Tsingshan Holding Group
Vinícius Mendes Ferreira, Executive Advisor for Nickel Downstreaming, PT Vale Indonesia
Fan Li, Sustainability and ESG Services Manager, dss+
Tom Fairlie, Senior Sustainability Manager, Cobalt Institute
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