Head Of BPS Denies Faisal Basri: Zero Nickel Ore Exports To China

Head of the Central Bureau of Statistics Margo Yuwono (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Margo Yuwono confirmed that there was no recorded data stating that Indonesia exported nickel ore last year. He conveyed this in a virtual press conference related to the development of exports and imports in September 2021.

"If we look at the export data for nickel ore in 2020, the export data is 0 or nil," he said, Friday, October 15.

Margo's statement at the same time dismissed the recent rumors that said that Indonesia had suffered heavy losses due to the mining goods trading activities, especially with one of the countries in the East Asia region.

"So from our release in 2020 the number of nickel ore exports to China is 0 or nil," he continued.

Margo was also reluctant to comment further and chose to reveal the facts based on information held by BPS.

"I can't tell you another story, but from our data it states that our nickel ore exports in 2020 will not be exported to China," he said.

For information, the polemic of nickel ore exports emerged to the public when senior economist Faisal Basri said that Indonesia had suffered losses of up to hundreds of trillions due to leakage of nickel exports in the last five years.

In fact, according to Faisal, the government has banned foreign trade activities for these mining commodities.

Faisal argued that the facts on the ground showed that China still received Indonesia's nickel ore disbursement throughout last year. This is based on his findings in the 2020 General Customs Administration of China (GCAC) report.

Meanwhile, the ban on the import of nickel ore itself is contained in the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Number 11 of 2019 concerning the Second Amendment to the Regulation of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Number 25 of 2018 concerning Mineral and Coal Mining.