Nickel Ore Production Wants To Be Cut, Business Actors Disburse The Impact

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Nickel Miners Association (APNI) revealed the domino effect of the government's discourse to cut nickel ore production this year.

APNI General Secretary Meidy Katrin Lengkey said that until now the nickel ore Work Plan and Budget (RKAB) that had been issued for 2025 had recorded at 298 million tons. With this cut, he said it would have a major impact on companies and state revenues.

After obtaining the RKAB, he said, nickel companies have carried out feasibility studies, made exploration reports and prepared financial reports.

"It must have had a tremendous domino impact. We have planned a budget for both tools, production and manpower for the capacity that has been approved," Meidy explained in the Mining Zone quoted Tuesday, January 21.

For this reason, he assesses that the government will not cut the amount of RKAB that has been approved this year. Officials, he said, in the latest policy, the government has given RKAB permits for 3 years.

"It is not possible to withdraw it. In terms of regulations, there is no substitute law for RKAB that can be trimmed. It will definitely be chaos," he added.

On the other hand, such a large loss will later be borne by the company.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, if nickel production is not controlled by the government, production will be carried out in a row which will have an impact on commodity prices.

"If it affects the price, it will affect state revenue. But on the other hand, if it is not cut, the price will still fall," continued Meidy.

Meidy said that since the beginning of the year, mining actors have been shocked by the imposition of 12 percent VAT on several types of goods, including heavy equipment that will be used in the production of nickel ore.

Not only that, but the government has also implemented B40 biodiesel which has an impact on increasing production costs.

"After we calculated the production cost, there was an increase. The increase was almost 30 percent. This is from the total production from taxes, fuel B40 and later added the Battery Passport Law which will take effect in 2027," said Meidy.