China May Move to Mitigate Indonesian Nickel Ore Ban

Quoting a report from Roskill, MINING.com notes that China’s government may attempt to mitigate the effects of Indonesia’s recent ban on unprocessed nickel ore exports by trying to get exemptions for some of its companies.

China depends on laterite nickel ore from Indonesia and will be most heavily impacted if the ban goes ahead as planned.

Roskill’s report states:

The Chinese government may enter the political fray surrounding the nickel ban and attempt to effectuate an exemption for some of its companies, through diplomatic back-channels. Chinese-Indonesian relationships were normalised in 1990 and China has since grown to become Indonesia’s second-largest trading partner, behind Japan, with bilateral trade expected to reach US$80 billion by 2015.

Chinese companies also remain heavily invested in infrastructural development, and although it may wait to see the outcome of the Indonesia’s presidential elections, Roskill expects that China may leverage its influence to secure the interests of its metal industries by securing additional transitional arrangements.

Click here to read the full MINING.com report.