[ad_1]
The breakthrough in nickel continued Monday after Indonesia announced it would stop exporting the metal in 2020, as Jakarta steps up its efforts to set up a local smelter.
Indonesia is the second largest exporter of nickel ore after the Philippines. Most of its production is currently moving to China for conversion to Nickel Iron (NPI), a cheap alternative to pure nickel.
The discussions on an accelerated delay have been swirling for the last few months, which has helped push up the price of nickel from its summer low of $ 11,500 a tonne.
On Monday, nickel to be delivered in three months at the London Metal Exchange peaked at $ 18,785 after five years, after Indonesia had confirmed that the ban on exports was no longer met. would apply to all nickel ore from the beginning of next year.
'This eliminates one of the main sources of raw material in the nickel-casting industry in China and leaves a hole of about 100,000 tons per year on the nickel market for the next two years, even assuming that other suppliers are strengthening their operations and that national smelters projects are advanced, "said Colin Hamilton of BMO Capital Markets.
The ban had been announced for the first time in 2014, but in 2017, the government had announced that it would allow exports of low-grade ore (less than 1.7%) to be exported until the end of the year. 2022 provided that companies build smelters. A total ban is therefore a shock for the industry.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs have said nickel prices could reach $ 20,000 a tonne over the next three months due to the ban, which would create considerable uncertainty for large consumers.
"The ban is intended to accelerate the development of domestic smelter capacity. At the same time, Indonesian President Jokowi wants to develop a national electric vehicle industry and cited the availability of key raw materials, such as cobalt and nickel, as one of Indonesia's key competitive advantages. " said the analysts.
Indonesia has had considerable success in creating a national fusion industry.
On Morowali Island, the Chinese company Tsingshan has built a huge integrated stainless steel plant with an annual capacity of 3 million tons. Tsingshan is also part of a consortium working on a project to produce high quality nickel for electric vehicle batteries also in Morowali.
Bambang Gatot Ariyono, director general of mining and coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, told reporters on Monday in Jakarta that the government had decided, after weighing the pros and cons, that "no one else is going to be here. he wanted to speed up the construction of foundries.
"So we took the initiative to stop the export of nickel ore of any quality," he said, adding that the new technology allowed the use of low quality materials in batteries. Mr Ariyono said that exports of bauxite, the main product needed for the manufacture of aluminum, would continue until 2022 for copper concentrates.
[ad_2]
Source link