TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsInconsistency in ore export ban overshadows mining sector in 2019
The government decided to impose an ore export ban beginning January, two years earlier than originally planned, to ensure a large enough ore supply for dozens of local smelters.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Activities at a nickel mining site. The government has decided to enforce an ore export ban beginning January, two years ahead of the initial 2022 deadline. (Kontan/Cheppy A. Muchlis)
T
he government’s policy to restrict ore exports dominated the news in the mining sector this year as it not only received negative reactions from local miners but also from other countries such as the European Union, which has threatened to sue Indonesia at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the ban.
The government has been steadfast on enforcing the game-changing ban starting January 2020, three years after the preceding administration under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono canceled a similar ban due to a lack of domestic smelters.
The government had initially planned to enforce the ban in 2022, but later brought it forward by two years to ensure a large enough ore supply for dozens of smelters that have begun operation.
“We have many smelters now, so the government wants to accelerate the development of downstream industries and will take the initiative by stopping nickel ore exports,” the ministry’s coal and mineral director general Bambang Gatot Ariyono told reporters on Sept 3.
Bambang’s statement came less than a week after the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry issued Regulation No. 11/2019, which imposed the ban in January 2020.
However, Coordinating Investment Board (BKPM) head Bahlil Lahadalia unexpectedly announced on Oct. 28 that “nickel associations” had unanimously agreed to stop exporting nickel ore effective immediately. The announcement caused confusion among miners in the country.
Two days after Bahlil’s announcement, Coordinating Maritime and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan – the strongman of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration – declared a two-week ban on exports to investigate suspected foul play from miners ahead of the ban.
