Nickel, bauxite exports from Indonesia to decline on ban

Nickel ore and bauxite shipments from Indonesia, the top supplier to China, may plunge 75 per cent this year as a ban on metal ore sales comes into force in May, two years earlier than scheduled, said an industry group. The ban, originally set for 2014, was brought forward as exports surged in the past three years, Syahrir Abubakar, executive director of the Indonesia Mining Association, said in an interview. The country shipped 33 million tonnes of nickel ore and 40 million tonnes of bauxite in 2011, he said. China, the world’s biggest metal user, bought about 80 per cent of its bauxite and 53 per cent of its nickel ore from the southeast Asian nation last year, customs data showed. Declining shipments may increase competition for supplies among Chinese processors, potentially benefiting nickel-ore mining companies in the Philippines and boosting prices.