Jakarta (VNA) –The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry of Indonesia on September 2 announcedthe country will stop exporting nickel from January 1 next year to boostdomestic metallurgy amid concerns over limited nickel reserves.

The date is two years earlier than thegovernment’s initial plan to ban nickel ore exports in January 2022.

According to coal and minerals director general BambangGatot Ariyono, Indonesia hasnickel reserves of about 698 million tonnes that could be mined for the nextseven to eight years.

Indonesia exported 38 million tonnes of nickel from January to July thisyear, he said, adding that the country has potential reserves of about 2.8 billion tonnes of nickel but they needed to be explored.

Last year, Indonesia was the world’s largest nickel producer with output of560,000 tonnes. The nation’s average production is expected to grow 8.1 percentin the 2018 – 2027 period, outperforming all other global nickel producers like the Philippines and Canada.

However, it mainly exported raw nickel ore rather than products such asbatteries or stainless steel slabs.

Bambang said the ban of nickel ore exportswas in line with the national plan to accelerate the establishment of smeltersso Indonesia could sell value-added nickel products.

He noted Indonesia would need 81 million tonnes ofnickel ore per year as it currently has 11 working smelters and plans tobuild 25 more. –VNA