JAKARTA: Indonesia’s abrupt easing of a three-year ban on nickel ore exports will not flood the global market but instead is aimed at balancing the country’s smelters and creating job opportunities at mines, top mining officials said on Saturday.
Indonesian mines may export up to 5.2 million tons of nickel ore a year under the country’s new rules, the mining minister said, only a fraction of its shipments when it was once a top global supplier of the stainless steel material.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan’s comment came after an industry backlash over the government’s decision on Thursday to lift a ban on the export of nickel ore and bauxite under certain conditions.
Nickel prices and the shares of companies that had heavily invested in smelters tumbled after the news, as analysts said the resumption of nickel ore exports from Indonesia could wreck the global prices of the commodity.
Senior mining officials defended the new rules, saying that the amount of nickel ore that can be exported must correspond to the miners’ smelter capacity and that it will be “comparable.”
“It is not like they build small smelters and export as much as they can. No, we are going to regulate that,” Arcandra Tahar, deputy mining minister, told reporters.
The government banned the export of nickel ore and bauxite in 2014 in order to spur higher-value processing of mineral ores. A year before the ban kicked in, Indonesia exported around 60 million tons of nickel ore.
The ban cost Southeast Asia’s biggest economy billions of dollars in lost revenue and led to job losses, as many mines laid off their workers.
The Philippines took Indonesia’s crown as the world’s top nickel ore exporter, accounting for around one-quarter of the world’s mined nickel supply, although its government has since restricted output due to environmental concerns.
‘Indonesia will not flood nickel market’
‘Indonesia will not flood nickel market’
ITFC tops the global rankings in Islamic crowdfunding deals for 2025
RIYADH: The International Islamic Trade Finance Corp., a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, has topped the global rankings as the best Bookrunner and Mandated Lead Arranger in the 2025 Islamic syndicated finance deal rankings issued by Bloomberg and the London Stock Exchange Group Data & Analytics, achieving its continued leadership for the fifth consecutive year.
The Bloomberg ranking reflects the corporation’s ability to structure and lead syndicated trade finance deals, as well as its success in attracting a broad and diverse investor base globally.
The LSEG Data & Analytics ranking confirms the entity’s established leadership position and high credibility in international financial markets.
This dual recognition embodies the pivotal role the ITFC plays in mobilizing investments from private and public institutions worldwide to finance member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, while providing Islamic trade finance solutions that meet client needs and align with its development mission.
On this occasion, the CEO of ITFC Adeeb Al-Aama said: “The institution’s leading position in the global rankings of Islamic crowdfunding deals in Bloomberg’s tables and the LSEG Data & Analytics for 2025 reflects the strength and credibility of the crowdfunding platform through which the institution operates, its consistent performance, and its broad global presence.This achievement also confirms the international financial community’s confidence in the institution’s ability to innovate and lead high-quality Islamic finance deals.”
It is worth noting that the Islamic crowdfunding deals ranking tables issued by Bloomberg and the LSEG Data & Analytics are based on comprehensive market transaction data and are considered a primary reference for financial institutions worldwide through the Bloomberg and LSEG Data and Analytics platforms and systems.
