[Preview of the Weekly] Chinese Companies Deeply Involved in Indonesia's Nickel Industry: A Global Contest of Masters (AI Translation)
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- Indonesia's Sulawesi Island is home to a bustling nickel industry, where local red soil nickel ore is processed into stainless steel and sold globally. China Baowu Steel Group, the world's largest steel company, plans to purchase a production line from Tsingshan Holding Group (referred to as 'Tsingshan'), the largest stainless steel enterprise, for over $2 billion. However, despite negotiations since April 2022, the deal remains undecided amidst market volatility and internal disagreements within Baowu.
- The Indonesian nickel industry has attracted significant Chinese investment, with over 90% of nickel smelters built by Chinese companies. Indonesia is rich in laterite nickel ore and aims to develop its own industry chain using Chinese capital and technology. Despite challenges such as lack of infrastructure and political instability, the overall cost of establishing an industrial chain in Indonesia remains lower than in China due to factors like low labor costs and government support.
- The future of the Indonesian nickel industry includes transitioning from pyrometallurgical (fire method) production towards hydrometallurgical (wet method) techniques suitable for battery material production. This shift aims to meet the growing demand for electric vehicle batteries while addressing concerns about environmental sustainability and carbon emissions associated with coal-powered smelting processes.
文｜财新周刊 罗国平 发自印度尼西亚 ，图｜财新周刊 张芮雪 发自印度尼西亚
By Caixin Weekly's Luo Guoping, from Indonesia, Photos by Caixin Weekly's Zhang Ruixue, from Indonesia
印尼苏拉威西岛青山工业园内，一个个钢包灌注着数十吨1500摄氏度高温的镍铁水与钢水，在冶炼车间穿梭不停，几十公里之内的红土镍矿如此一步步被冶炼成不锈钢，卖向全球。
Within the Qing Shan Industrial Park on Indonesia's Sulawesi Island, ladles filled with dozens of tons of nickel iron and molten steel at 1500 degrees Celsius shuttle tirelessly through the smelting workshop. The lateritic nickel ore mined from within tens of kilometers is thus step by step smelted into stainless steel and sold across the globe.
全球最大钢铁企业中国宝武钢铁集团（下称“宝武”）打算以超过20亿美元的代价，从全球最大不锈钢企业青山实业（下称“青山”）手中购买的生产线就坐落其中。但距离双方开启并购谈判已一年多，交易始终悬而未决。
The world's largest steelmaker, China Baowu Steel Group (hereinafter referred to as "Baowu"), plans to purchase a production line from the world's largest stainless steel company, Tsingshan Holding Group (hereinafter referred to as "Tsingshan"), at a cost of over $2 billion. However, more than a year has passed since the two parties initiated merger and acquisition negotiations, yet the deal remains unresolved.
近年的资源并购市场已难得一见这样的大交易。双方从2022年4月开始谈判，当时青山仍处于“妖镍”事件余波中，伦敦金属交易所（LME）镍期货主力合约（下称“伦镍”）价格从异常的历史高位5.5万美元/吨，刚回落至约3.3万美元/吨附近。（详见本刊2022年第12期封面报道《“妖镍”事件始末》）
In recent years, the resource acquisition market has rarely seen a deal of this magnitude. Negotiations between the parties began in April 2022, at which time Tsingshan was still dealing with the aftermath of the "Nickel Witches" incident. The price of nickel futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME), referred to as "LME Nickel," had just fallen from an abnormally high historical level of $55,000 per ton to around $33,000 per ton. (For more details, see Caixin Weekly's 2022 Issue 12 cover story "The Beginning and End of the 'Nickel Witches' Incident.")
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