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’
Saudi Export-Import Bank signs reinsurance agreement with the German Export Credit Agency
RIYADH: The Saudi Export-Import Bank has signed a reinsurance agreement with Germany’s official Export Credit Agency, managed by Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft, with the aim of enhancing credit risk insurance coverage to meet the needs of local exporters of capital goods and production inputs from the Federal Republic of Germany.
This agreement is part of the bank’s efforts to strengthen partnerships with international export credit agencies, ensuring the safe and sustainable flow of essential raw materials and capital goods, and enhancing the efficiency of export activities by local enterprises, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
The agreement was signed by Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalb, CEO of the Saudi Export-Import Bank, and Edna Schone, board member of Euler Hermes Aktiengesellschaft and head of its Export Credit Agency.
Al-Khalb stated that the reinsurance agreement with ECA represents an important step in expanding credit risk management tools and enabling local exporters to obtain the production inputs and capital goods necessary to grow their businesses with greater confidence.
He noted that cooperation with international export credit agencies reflects the bank’s commitment to developing advanced insurance solutions that contribute to the growth of the Kingdom’s foreign trade, as part of its pivotal role in strengthening the non-oil national economy.
Through this agreement, the Saudi Export-Import Bank continues to support the growth of Saudi non-oil exports and expand its network of international partnerships, in alignment with the goals of Vision 2030 to diversify the national economy and enhance the Kingdom’s position in global trade.
