Indonesia: Nickel processed products less than 70% should be
The Indonesian Ministry of Investment/BKPM plans to levy export duties on processed goods with a raw material content below 70%. The move is to protect investment in the domestic electric vehicle ecosystem.
Investment Minister/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia said that one of the regulations threatening investment in the country's electric vehicle ecosystem comes from continental Europe. The European Union requires battery factories to be built near electric car factories. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, we are developing downstream to create added value from mining to batteries. If EV makers in other countries only take raw materials, Indonesia will suffer.
As such, Bahlil plans to impose export duties on goods with a processing level of less than 70 percent. Bahlil said he would further discuss the details of the regulation with the Treasury Department.
“Exports of these raw materials will be subject to fairly high taxes. So the state will at least be compensated when it allows the export of nickel ore raw materials,” Balil told a virtual press conference on Tuesday (May 24).
According to him, if Indonesia does not carry out the downstream processing of raw materials that other countries usually do, my country will continue to be deceived.
At the same time, according to the data of the Indonesian Nickel Miners Association (APNI), the Indonesian downstream nickel industry currently has 37 corporate entities, namely pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. The output pyrometallurgy is nickel pig iron (NPI) or nickel iron. Meanwhile, the output of hydrometallurgy is nickel sulfate as a material for making battery cathodes.
For the electric vehicle industry, there are currently 5 foreign industries investing in the electric vehicle battery ecosystem. The five investors are LG Chem, CATL, Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, BASF and Foxconn.
