Indonesia May Impose Nickel Export Tax in 2022, Jokowi Says (4)

Indonesia may impose a tax on nickel exports this year, President Joko Widodo said, as the biggest producer of the electric-vehicle battery metal looks to refine more at home.

Jokowi, as the president is known, confirmed that Southeast Asia’s largest economy was considering introducing a levy in an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait in Jakarta on Thursday. That came after an Indonesian government official said early in 2022 that the country was studying a progressive tax on nickel pig iron and ferronickel.

Joko Widodo on Aug. 18.

Photographer: Muhammad Fadli/Bloomberg

The world’s epic shift into EVs has spurred a surge in demand for battery metals ...