After the South American Lithium Triangle proposed to set up the OPEC organization of lithium resources, the nickel resources field also ushered in a similar proposal.
Polaris Energy Storage Network learned that recently, Indonesia, the largest nickel producer in the world, has proposed to Canada to set up a group of the largest nickel producers similar to OPEC Group to coordinate and unify the nickel commodity policy, which may mean that the major producers of nickel resources may soon join forces to seek nickel pricing power.
Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia proposed the establishment of nickel OPEC, a nickel producer group, when meeting with Canadian Minister of International Trade Mary Ng during the G20 Summit in Bali. "Through this cooperation, we hope that all nickel producing countries can benefit from it and get an evenly distributed added value."
Ng of Canada mentioned her meeting with Bahlil Lahadalia on Twitter, and she claimed to "discuss the potential of partnership in developing Indonesia's key mineral industry chain".
In an interview with the Financial Times at the end of October, Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said that Indonesia was considering setting up a joint enterprise organization to manage the supply of nickel and some other key battery metals, similar to what the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has done with oil. "I do see the benefits of setting up OPEC to manage oil trade to ensure the predictability of potential investors and consumers."
At that time, Indonesian officials told the Financial Times that Indonesia had not contacted other nickel producing countries to discuss the idea of setting up an organization, and was still studying the formation of an alliance organization structure that could make suggestions to other producers.
The report "Global Supply Chain of Electric Vehicle Battery" released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in July 2022 shows that Indonesia has laterite nickel ore, but its grade is low, which requires additional energy-intensive processing to become battery grade nickel. "Although the nickel produced in Indonesia accounts for about 40% of the total nickel, it is rarely used for electric vehicle power batteries at present. The largest class 1 battery grade nickel producers are Russia, Canada and Australia. " The International Energy Agency said.
