Heaptalk, Jakarta — The nickel price continues to subside, making nickel minings in several countries closed down. Moreover, the nickel issue also is surfacing back after the former minister of trade brought it up through their youtube channel.
In response for this issue, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menkomarves) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in the press release declared that Indonesia is not closing any nickel mining. “Let the other minings around the globe put up the shutter, we remain still and steady,” he said.
Also known as Opung, Luhut responded to other distressing updates such as the closed down nickel mines around the globe being caused due to the drop of world nickel values. Moreover, Indonesia is perceived as the accused party of this unfortunate condition. Numerous nickel process and refine (smelter) facilities in Indonesia causing the nickel supply flooding the world.
“They cannot put the blame (of the downturn in nickel price) on Indonesia. I’ve said before, you have to see for the past 10 years/in the next 10 years. Now that the price is rising, it’s the same with coals,” he explained.
He thought, the price of commodities–not just only nickel–including coals and other commodities must be seen cumulatively and calculated by the average.
“At the end, it is only seen from the equilibrium. Any kind of commodities can’t be seen only from the past 2 years as it must be checked from 5-10 years. The cumulative price needs to be considered, after that the average price,” he stated.
Previously, the Deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination at the Coordinating Ministry Septian Hario Seto said, the assumption of a downturn of nickel price due to the supply from Indonesia flooding the global market is not entirely correct.
“To say that it is an oversupply is not true, because the additional nickel production from Indonesia is replacing the supply in other countries that are inefficient,” stated Seto.
Seto explained, the Indonesian data export from January since November 2023 showed the exported worth of nickel derivatives reached USD31,3 billion, with an increase of 0,6% compared to the one from January – November 2022 that was worth USD31,3 billion (USD1 equals to Rp15,611).
“Thus, even if it is decreasing, the income is still quite increased due to the expansion in volume,” he said.
On the other hand, he thought the nickel price at the level of USD16.000 is still considered higher than the average price of the last 10 years that was at USD15.000.
“It is important to remember than today’s nickel price is at USD16.000 and is considered high compared to the average price of the last 10 years that was just at USD15.000, it’s even higher compared to the early period we did a downstreamer in 2014-2019 where the average price of nickel was USD12.000,” he concluded.
Editorial team: Prazna Alyfia Ghefira, Wulan Dari
