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Ministry to curb nickel output to push up global prices
The government is planning to impose further curbs on domestic nickel production in a bid to improve global prices and local miners, but has not provided a potential time frame.
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Emissions from nickel smelters fill the skies above Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park on Jan. 26, 2024, along with a nearby residential area in Bahodopi district, Morowali regency, Central Sulawesi. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
T
he Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has reaffirmed its plan to further limit the production of nickel products in a move to improve the commodity’s price to protect the domestic industry.
Tri Winarno, the ministry’s coal and mineral mining director general, said addittional curbs on production was highly relevant to maintaining national resilience amid heightened geopolitical tension and a rise in global conflicts.
He did not reveal either the terms of the new restrictions or when they might be imposed.
“We will begin regulating certain nickel products in the market so [as to avoid] oversupply, just the optimum level [of output]. We will restrict saturated nickel products so prices can go up,” Tri said on Tuesday at the Bisnis Indonesia Economic Outlook 2025 in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
“I agree that [the global condition] is not OK. This is a challenge for us, particularly for Indonesia, which possesses a commodity that can play a bigger role,” he said.
Read also: Ministry defends nickel imports to preserve domestic reserves
Indonesia is the world’s largest nickel producer, and has seen a boom in smelter development in nickel-rich regions since stepping up its downstream policy years ago.
