Indonesia's Move To Keep Nickel At Home Will Hurt China The Most

Indonesia's pledge to stop being a supplier of raw materials will put pressure on China's steel industry, which is already grappling with rising cost volatility.

东南亚国家周三表示，它正在研究镍矿铁和镍铁出口的逐步税，这可能会尽早实施。关于世界上最大的镍供应商的出货量汇率的担忧将伦敦金属交换基准指数飙升至十多年来的最高水平。这可以提高中国不锈钢厂，最大的用户，最大的用户，并加入到一艘商品的筏子，因为价格上涨，这是电池制造商的头痛。

Indonesia plays a key role in global markets as a supplier of bulk materials, but President Joko Widodo has promised to eventually stop all raw material exports in a bid to make the country a major manufacturing hub for electric transport. The government said in September that a nickel limit was imminent and said it would halt shipments of bauxite and copper ore, with the eventual goal of producing all electric vehicle components, including lithium batteries, onshore.

The core problem for Chinese industry is their reliance on Indonesia for ferronickel, a semi-refined product used to make stainless steel. About 84 per cent of the country's imports come from Indonesia, with the rest coming from Japan, Colombia, Myanmar and New Caledonia.

Celia Wang, an analyst at Mysteel Global, a research house, said that while details such as timing and tax rates remained uncertain, Chinese mills would have to accept the "reality" of higher costs because of the industry's dependence on Indonesia. Higher nickel prices are also causing additional pain for battery makers, who are already "very uncomfortable" with high raw material costs, she said.

Battery metals are in the midst of an unprecedented boom in the global push to slow climate change, with lithium soaring to record levels and cobalt doubling in the past year. A sustained rally could push up battery costs for the first time since at least 2010, hurting automakers and potentially discouraging consumers from buying electric vehicles, bloomberg New Energy Finance reports.

Lynn Zhang, analyst at Shanghai Metals Market, said Indonesia's domestic focus was likely to spur more overseas investment in downstream sectors. The government said in September that production of an electric vehicle battery plant jointly owned by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solutions would begin in May.

镍一直是特斯拉的关键重点，亿万富翁老板Elon Musk以前表达了对未来供应的担忧，由于可持续采购和飙升的需求，因为世界越来越多地转向电动汽车。由于Castle Peak Holdings Ltd的突破性技术，该金属遭到了突破性的技术。这是世界上最大的不锈钢生产商，它允许它提供大量产品，这些产品可以使用现有的印尼冶炼厂加工成电池级材料。