Never mind the Saudis: Here's a new OPEC for EV battery metals

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Countries propose grouping in cartel as demand for EVs continues to rise

Jude Karabus

Mon 31 Oct 2022 // 15:45 UTC

Indonesia is looking to use its position as the nickel capital of the world to set up a cartel with other like-minded mining empires, similar to the way OPEC joins forces to control the global crude oil market.

This is at a time when demand for nickel surges and the world struggles to move from fossil fuel-based autos to electric vehicles, not to mention at the moment Europe's energy crisis builds.

"I do see the merit of creating OPEC to manage the governance of oil trade to ensure predictability for potential investors and consumers," Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told the FT in an interview today. "Indonesia is studying the possibility to form a similar governance structure with regard to the minerals we have, including nickel, cobalt and manganese."

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Indonesia is known for following through on its trade threats. In 2020, it banned exports of nickel ore in the hopes of boosting processing and finishing on its own shores, creating jobs and attracting foreign investment, something hotly disputed by its trading partners in the EU who wanted the raw product for their stainless steel production. Member states went on to smack the archipelago with a World Trade Organization complaint in 2021.

By then, however, from Indonesia's point of view, it had achieved its goal: "It looks like we will lose at the WTO, but it's fine, the industry is already built," Indonesian President Joko Widodo told an economists' forum in Jakarta in September this year, adding that whatever the WTO's decision in the dispute may be, Indonesia will move ahead with plans to impose similar bans on exports of other raw commodities.