Indonesia’s Investment Minister, Bahlil Lahadalia told reporters on Friday that there have been ‘intense talks’ around Indonesia’s proposal for a global nickel cartel that would operate in a similar way as OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) effectively coordinating policies and prices to keep nickel markets stable, according to reporting from Jakarta Globe.
The minister did not say which three countries were involved in the talks.
“There are three countries whom we already have been intensely communicating with,” Bahlil told reporters in Jakarta on Friday, who thought “it was a great idea, but we still need to work on the details of the proposal.”
President Jokowi tried to pitch the OPEC-style nickel cartel at Hiroshima’s G7 Summit last month, announcing Indonesia’s industrial downstream strategy, in which the country preferred refining raw minerals domestically rather than shipping out unprocessed ores, say Jakarta Globe.
“I hope G7 countries can become a partner in these industrial downstream [policies]. It is time to establish an OPEC-like group for other products such as nickel and palm oil,” Jokowi said at the G7 Summit, as quoted by the Presidential Secretariat.
According to a 2023 US Geological Survey report, Indonesia and Australia hold the title as the countries with the world’s largest nickel reserves. Both countries’ nickel reserves amount to 21-million metric tons, respectively. Indonesia’s mines produced 1.6-million metric tons of the silvery metal in 2022. The nickel mine production in Australia reached 160,000-tons that year, say Jakarta Globe. The survey also shows that Canada’s nickel reserves stand at 2.2-million metric tons with its mine production in 2022 reaching 130,000-metric tons.
Last year, the minister proposed the nickel cartel concept to Canadian International Trade Minister Mary Ng on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
“All this time EV producing countries are being protectionists. Consequently, countries that are producing the battery raw materials fail to enjoy optimum added values from the EV industry. We hope all nickel-producing countries can benefit from an evenly distributed added value,” Bahlil was quoted as saying by news outlet Antara last November.
Source: Jakarta Globe
Photo by Kumpan Electric on Unsplash
