GreenergyDaily

Mar. 25, 2026

Nickel prices jumped after the world’s largest producer Indonesia agreed to tax outbound shipments of the battery metal.

Futures climbed as much as 2.7% on the London Metal Exchange after Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said President Prabowo Subianto had approved tariffs for coal and nickel exports on Wednesday. Discussions were still underway on specific tax rates, according to the minister.

The resource-rich Southeast Asian country has been mulling a windfall tax on commodities as it faces rising budgetary strain from higher oil prices due to the Iran war. As a net crude and fuels importer, Indonesia is also vulnerable to potential inflationary and growth pressures from the conflict’s disruptions to energy flows.

The country has long held ambitions to move up the resource value chain by stopping all exports of raw materials and pushing companies to invest in metals processing. Talks of taxing nickel exports specifically can be traced back to a 2022 consideration by then-President Joko Widodo, who wanted to attract investment from battery and EV makers using the metal.

Indonesia now accounts for more than half the world’s nickel production and the metal is one of the country’s top export earners. Much of the industry’s growth was driven by Chinese investment.