An Indonesian Government Official Says Indonesia Needs to Restrict Export of Nickel Derivatives with Nickel Content below 70%

SHANGHAI, Jul 27 (SMM) – Eddy Soeparno, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) Commission VII, said that with its large nickel resources and reserves, Indonesia has the opportunity to become a major player in the raw material supply chain for future battery electric vehicles.

According to data released by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2020, Indonesia was the world's largest producer of nickel ore, with nickel production reaching 800,000 mt in 2019, compared with world nickel production of 2.668 million mt.

He revealed that most of the nickel smelters currently operating in Indonesia are RKEF smelters using pyrometallurgy, who process nickel ore with nickel grade above 1.7%, and the final products NPI, FeNi and nickel matte are all exported.

At the same time, Indonesia's largest nickel resources and reserves are below 1.7% grade, which contain a large amount of cobalt used as a basic material for lithium batteries.

He emphasized that in order to encourage the development of the domestic downstream nickel industry, it is necessary to restrict the export of BOP and FeNi or nickel derivatives with nickel content below 70%.