Nickel paves the way to become a global steel powerhouse
The Indonesian iron and steel industry has developed into one of the largest in the world in just a few years. It not only serves the domestic construction industry, but also the world market. The 2021 record of 20.9 billion US dollars (US$) was already reached in September 2022. That is more than the archipelago generates with palm oil exports. Iron and steel exports are only surpassed by booming coal exports.
Key to this rise is the large nickel deposits, especially in Sulawesi. Indonesia is the world's largest nickel producer. The export ban on nickel ores was tightened in 2020. At the same time, a program for the construction of nickel smelters was launched. They were mainly built by Chinese companies, as were numerous steel mills. Because nickel is needed for the production of stainless steel. According to industry reports, Indonesia is the world's largest exporter. The EU has imposed anti-dumping duties on stainless steel products from Indonesia.
The second important area of application for nickel is batteries for electric cars. In this area, Indonesia is attracting international automobile manufacturers here and wants to persuade them to produce batteries in the country. Hyundai is currently building a battery cell factory just outside of Jakarta. Volkswagen, Ford and Tesla are currently securing access to Indonesian nickel reserves - sometimes in cooperation with Chinese suppliers.
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