JAKARTA – The Indonesian government plans to promote nickel trading through futures exchange, with the process of fixing reference price in progress.

Tirta Karma Senjaya, Head of Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency or Bappebti, mentioned that this action is quite substantial as Indonesia has the biggest nickel reserves in the world.

“Indonesia must optimise nickel trading to boost state revenue,” said Senjaya in Jakarta, last week.

For the meantime, he added, the nickel will still refer to international exchange.

Senjaya mentioned that nickel has high potential to be the subject of futures contract in Indonesia Futures Exchange. He claimed that this strategy could drive the formation of nickel reference price in national and global markets alike, in line with Act No.10/2011 concerning commodity futures trading.

For the record, Indonesia’s nickel production had reached 1.8 million ton in 2023, according to the data from United States Geological Survey. This number represents 50% of global nickel volume.

The Ministry of Trade also mentioned that Indonesia has become the biggest nickel exporter in the world. Some of nickel export destinations, according to the ministry, are China, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, and South Korea. (KR/ZH)