MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st December, 2022) Indonesia will stop exporting bauxite ore from the middle of next year to boost domestic processing, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Wednesday.
"Starting from June 2023, the government will impose a ban on exports of bauxite ore and encourage the development of processed bauxite in the country," Widodo was quoted as saying by Indonesian news agency Antara.
The Indonesian authorities are aiming to make the country fully independent in terms of natural resources, as well as to create as many jobs as possible, according to the president.
On January 1, 2020, Indonesia banned the export of ore, particularly nickel ore, for the first time, Widodo noted.
"As a result, the profit from exporting nickel refined products was 19 times more than from exporting ore. At the end of 2014, we earned only $1.1 million for exporting nickel ore, but in 2021, our profit rose to $20.9 million," Widodo added.
The president estimates that the country's bauxite industrialization will increase the state's revenues from $1.4 billion to about $4 billion.
Indonesia is the sixth largest producer of bauxite in the world and has the fifth largest reserves., according to a 2022 US Geological Survey report.
