26 September 2024 – According to several Indonesian media reports, Western countries are actively running a smear campaign against dirty Indonesian nickel in an attempt to regain lost market share. And Asian stock markets continue to be buoyed by Chinese stimulus on Thursday.
Asian stock markets continue stimulus upswing
The upswing on the Asian stock markets continued today, Thursday. After the Chinese government announced further extensive measures to stimulate the economy, triggering a rally on the Asian stock markets, this trend now appears to be continuing.
In Germany, the German share index (DAX) also benefited from these announcements, rising to a new all-time high of more than 19,141.55 points today.
Iron ore prices also benefited, rising by around 1.75% on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) today. Iron Ore Seaborne Brands even rose by up to 3.5%.
Western campaign against “dirty” Indonesian nickel?
Several Indonesian media have reported in recent days about a possible campaign by Western countries against dirty nickel from Indonesia. According to the Indonesian Director General of Minerals and Coal (Dirjen Minerba), Tri Winarno, this campaign is based on the fear of some countries and the mining companies there of the competitive and cost advantages that Indonesia would have over these countries.
At the same time, Tri Winarno called on domestic mining companies to ensure that environmental guidelines and good mining standards are adhered to. In this way, this campaign should be resolutely countered.
EU has been criticizing Indonesia for nickel and stainless steel for years
The European Union is also a major critic of nickel mining and stainless steel production in Indonesia. In recent years, the European stainless steel manufacturers and their lobby organization EUROFER have repeatedly tried to stir up public opinion against products from Indonesia with the accusation of high CO2 emissions in nickel and stainless steel production.
EU imports more NPI and slabs from Indonesia
In recent years, European manufacturers have increasingly relied on imports of nickel pig iron (NPI) and stainless steel slabs and ingots from Indonesia, according to data from the EU statistics authority EUROSTAT. In addition to the UK, the Netherlands and Italy, Germany is now also an importer of Indonesian NPI.
EU mills want to soften CBAM to their own advantage
In recent weeks, there has also been an increase in lobbying activity by EU and UK mills in relation to this issue. Mills have been calling for the EU Carbon Border Tax CBAM to be relaxed and for exemptions for imports of CO2-intensive primary products.
This once again demonstrates the duplicity of the European Commission and the domestic stainless steel oligopoly, which would like to import cheap raw materials unhindered, but otherwise overload the market with punitive tariffs and thus cause massive damage to their own economy not only in the short term, but also in the medium to long term.
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