Indonesia to delay ban on copper concentrate exports to year-end

Indonesia will waive a ban on the export of copper concentrates until the end of the year, taking away another potentially bullish driver for the industrial metal that surged to a record this month.

The start of restrictions, which were due to come into effect on Saturday, will be delayed until Dec. 31, Budi Santoso, director general for foreign trade at the Trade Ministry, said on Friday. 

An interruption to Indonesia’s concentrate exports would have hit the supply of copper, a metal that’s crucial to the energy transition. The postponement of the ban will be a major relief to the global smelting industry, which is already dealing with a shortage of feedstock following the shuttering of a major Panamanian mine and a massive buildout of Chinese capacity. 

Indonesia has historically been a major source of concentrates for foreign smelters, but announced it would ban their export to stimulate investment in onshore processing facilities. PT Freeport Indonesia and PT Amman Mineral Internasional have both built plants to handle the concentrates produced by their mines, but they require months to ramp up to full capacity.