Indonesia's nickel industry, which holds about 42% of the world's known nickel and made 54% of global supply in 2023 (heading toward 62% by 2025).
It is the raw-material backbone for electric-vehicle batteries and electronics, and Indonesia used a policy lever to force that value to stay at home.
In 2020 Indonesia banned exporting raw nickel ore, which pushed processing inside the country and produced $30 billion in refined-nickel exports in 2024 — but more than 75% of that production is controlled by Chinese firms like Tsingshan and Jiangsu Delon.
The strange twist: a strategy meant to hold China at arm's length actually leaves the mineral supply dependent on the very country it was trying to limit.