Bahlil Lahadalia, Indonesia's minister of investment, said on Wednesday, according to MiningWeekly, citing Reuters, An OPEC-style nickel-producing group was proposed during talks with Canada's international trade minister Mary Ng on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali.
Indonesia and Canada rank first and sixth in nickel production, respectively.
Opec is currently made up of 13 oil producing countries and is usually able to determine global production. In order to "co-ordinate and integrate nickel policies", Mr Balil floated the idea of an OPEC-like organisation, the statement said.
In an interview with the Financial Times last month, Mr. Balier floated the idea of such a group, but said at the time that he was only making preliminary proposals and had not been in contact with other nickel-producing countries.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Barrier said the nickel-producing countries' organization can protect them from getting the best return from the electric vehicle industry because of protectionist trade policies. '
"Through this cooperation, we hope that all nickel producing countries will benefit from the equal distribution of added value," Barrier said.
Wu said in the statement that the two countries could explore such cooperation and that both sides look forward to optimizing the use of natural resources in a sustainable way.
Indonesia is keen to use nickel resources to attract investment in metal processing and downstream supply chains, including power batteries and electric vehicle production.
Since 2020, Indonesia has banned exports of unprocessed nickel ore in an effort to provide sufficient supplies for investors, including a metals company from China and a South Korean company.
Indonesia's ban on nickel exports has sparked a row with the European Union. The World Trade Organisation is expected to rule this quarter, but Jakarta says it may have already lost.
