Indonesia controls more of the world's supply of nickel than Opec did of oil at the cartel's peak in the 1970s of a critical metal
In 2014 the Indonesian government took the drastic step of announcing a ban on all exports of raw nickel.
The decision encouraged Chinese companies to spend billions of dollars to set up processing plants in Bahodopi and across other parts of the country of 281 million.
The transformation has been a remarkable turnaround for a country that a decade ago was not even a major player in nickel. Although Indonesia held the world's largest reserves — about 55mn tonnes as of 2024, according to the US Geological Survey — most of it was low-grade nickel that it had not yet figured out how to process efficiently.
With the help of Chinese technology, huge investments from Beijing and a dose of protectionism, Indonesia has gained control of the market and cemented itself as the epicentre of global nickel production for years to come.
Last year, Indonesia accounted for 61% of the global refined nickel supply up from just
