Perhapi Says Nickel Will Remain Interested Even Though The Price Is Fluctuating

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of Mining Strategic Studies Division of the Association of Indonesian Mining Experts (Perhapi), Mohammad Toha, said nickel is still needed in the industry despite price fluctuations.

"A number of industries such as the robot industry, energy, and even renewable energy will also need nickel," Mohammad Toha said in a Webinar entitled LFP vs Battery Nickel: Quo Vadis of the Future of Indonesian Nickel, Monday, February 5.

Toha added, there was an anomaly of an increase in nickel prices when the pandemic hit the world three years ago.

In fact, he continued, the entire economic sector at that time was sluggish due to the pandemic.

The increase in nickel prices was later allegedly due to the high demand for nickel for electric car batteries. Many companies from outside entered Indonesia and plunged into the nickel industry because they saw excellent prospects and are expected to rise again," continued Tiha.

In line with the increase in nickel prices, continued Toha, the price of Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LFP) is also experiencing price hikes. This is inseparable from the phenomenon of Tesla electric cars using LFP because it is considered to be much more efficient in storing battery energy. In other words, the use of LFP, continued Toha, will continue to increase in the future.

This will turn out to be like the use of today's phones, where all humans already have cell phones. Later electric vehicles will also be, that conventional cars will be replaced by battery-based electric cars," he said.

With the prospect of using so much, Toha believes that nickel management is needed in Indonesia which will later be able to ensure good supply and demand arrangements. This is important to maintain price stability.

Although in fact, said M Toha, the current use of nickel for batteries is still very low, which is only about 3 percent.

The most widely used nickel is not for batteries, but by other industries such as military, automotive, and health industries. It's just that earlier, the projection of using nickel for batteries will continue to increase. That's why it takes an institution that can manage. If in oil we know OPEC, now nickel must also exist. Because it must be remembered that nickel will definitely be needed as long as the reserves are still there, "said M Toha.

Meanwhile, Expert Downstream and Founder of the Indonesian Institute for Mineral and Metal Industries (IM2I) Raden Sukhyar encourages Indonesia to be more advanced in utilizing abundant nickel reserves in Indonesia.

"Don't just be involved in the upstream sector anymore, but it's time to take part downstream," continued Sukhyar.

Sukhyar also said that he was furious with today's fact that Indonesia does not yet have a state-owned and private company that can be used as an icon capable of producing derivative goods from nickel raw materials.

There is no competitive advantage that can be obtained from nickel, even though it should be able to build a better value chain. Indonesia should be a determining country, not just a follower for developed countries like China," said Sukhyar.

According to him, this also happened because there was no interconnection of regulations among government institutions.

As a result, he continued, policies upstream are often not in sync with downstream policies.

Sukhyar suggested that there needs to be a revision of the BUMN Law to provide loopholes for state-owned companies to appear as innovators, not just companies that are forced to seek profit.

"China has done that. So we need institutional reform of SOEs," said the former Director General of Mineral and Coal of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.