Indonesia plans to ban copper exports in 2023 hinh anh 1Worker inspects mineral ore processing at a copper mine operated by Freeport Indonesia in Mimika, Papua (Photo: ANTARA)

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian president Joko Widodo said his government will soon consider halting the export of unprocessed copper ores to encourage domestic processing of raw materials in the country’s industrialisation push, following a similar policy on nickel and bauxite

Speaking at Mandiri Investment Forum 2023, the president announced a ban on all bauxite exports starting in June 2023 under the downstream industry policy, following a similar move on nickel ore exports.

After nickel ore exports were banned several years ago to force the opening of processing plants in Indonesia, the value of nickel export recorded a 30-fold increase from 1 billion USD to 30-33 billion USD in 2022. The policy was sued by the European Union (EU) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Indonesia was announced to lose the lawsuit./.

VNA