Nickel prices continue their downfall, even though LME supplies are at their lowest level in decades. In this respect, Indonesia, which has the world's largest nickel ore reserves, requested the United States’ Trade Commission in September to start discussions on a major minerals trade deal so that the Southeast Asian country's exports could be protected by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Most of Indonesia's nickel is processed into raw materials, but the government is interested in developing an electric vehicle supply chain to tap into huge nickel reserves that can be processed into battery materials. According to one estimate, the global market value of the nickel industry will reach $33.5 billion by 2022, despite an oversupplied market.

The only U.S. nickel mine will close within a few years and the country has no nickel smelters, threatening Biden's goal of leading the U.S. in electric vehicle manufacturing.

However, in early October, the British FT wrote that the supply shortage caused by Indonesia's crackdown on illegal nickel mining forced the country to import a large amount of ore from the Philippines to maintain the operation of the smelter.

In that context, Indonesia, once again, the world's largest nickel producer, recently delayed the issuance of nickel mining quotas. As a result, more than 53,000 tonnes of nickel ore and concentrate were shipped from the Philippines to Indonesia's Morowali region in May and June, where Tsingshan, the world's largest stainless steel producer, operating a large nickel smelter.