About a dozen newly constructed nickel smelters in Indonesia have stopped operations due to a plunge in nickel prices while others are operating at a loss, an industry association executive said on Monday.
Thirteen smelters with a combined capacity of 750 000 t of nickel pig iron a year “were forced to cease operation” because nickel prices reached as low as around $8 000/t, Jonatan Handojo, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Smelter Association told Reuters, declining to name the owners of the smelters.
