Indonesia drastically lowered the benchmark price of low-grade nickel ore to provide relief for local processors under cost pressure due to the US-Iran war. The formula for calculating the benchmark price of minerals has been revised to reduce the minimum payable price for low-grade ores, in accordance with ministerial regulations that came into effect on Friday. According to calculations, the cost of 1.2% nickel ore was almost halved at the new level. This change will benefit high-pressure acid leaching plants, which process low-grade nickel ore into chemicals used in the electric vehicle battery industry. Due to the sharp rise in the price of sulfur, a key reagent due to the war in the Middle East, HPAL plants are already overwhelmed, forcing some factories to consider joint production cuts. A large amount of new HPAL production capacity will be put into operation this year and next two years, which may put more pressure on nickel prices, which fell to the lowest level in the year on Wednesday. The products they produce are called mixed hydroxide precipitates, and can also be converted into pure nickel metal that can be stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses.

Indonesia drastically lowered the benchmark price of low-grade nickel ore to provide relief for local processors under cost pressure due to the US-Iran war. The formula for calculating the benchmark price of minerals has been revised to reduce the minimum payable price for low-grade ores, in accordance with ministerial regulations that came into effect on Friday. According to calculations, the cost of 1.2% nickel ore was almost halved at the new level. This change will benefit high-pressure acid leaching plants, which process low-grade nickel ore into chemicals used in the electric vehicle battery industry. Due to the sharp rise in the price of sulfur, a key reagent due to the war in the Middle East, HPAL plants are already overwhelmed, forcing some factories to consider joint production cuts. A large amount of new HPAL production capacity will be put into operation this year and next two years, which may put more pressure on nickel prices, which fell to the lowest level in the year on Wednesday. The products they produce are called mixed hydroxide precipitates, and can also be converted into pure nickel metal that can be stored in London Metal Exchange warehouses.