Up to 28 production lines shut down at several nickel smelters in Indonesia

Indonesia has recently seen a number of nickel smelters shut down production lines, including PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI), which has more than 20 ferronickel production lines, almost all of which have been shut down since the beginning of 2024, with only a handful still operating, and it is estimated that more than 15 production lines have been halted, approaching a complete shutdown.The company is awaiting a creditors' meeting for new funding, likely in August 2025, and is under new management operations.PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) stopped some stainless steel production lines and one cold mill production line from May 2025, the exact number of which is unspecified, with an estimate of 2-5 due to maintenance or raw material supply issues. Its ferronickel production is expected to reach 1.74 million tons in 2025, and Indonesia's overall nickel smelting production is good.PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry (VDNI) and PT Huadi Nickel Alloy Indonesia (HNI) reduced their production due to higher production costs and lower demand, but the exact number of production lines that were halted or cut is not publicly available. However, there is a lack of detailed public data on the number of production lines that have been shut down or reduced, and it is possible that the reductions have been in overall capacity rather than a complete cessation of individual production lines. There are currently 147 nickel smelter projects in Indonesia, with total nickel ore demand estimated at 735.2 million tons. Among them, 120 pyrometallurgical smelting projects, need 584.9 million tons of nickel ore, 49 have been operating, 35 under construction, 36 in the planning; wet smelting projects 27, need 150.3 million tons of nickel ore, 5 have been operating, 3 under construction, 19 in the planning. 2025 Indonesia nickel mining business plan to obtain the volume of mining operations work for 364 million tons, higher than the previous year's 319 million tons. Indonesia has 28 nickel refinery production lines ceased operation, of which 25 from GNI's production line, not all 28 smelters stopped production or closed. The reason for the shutdown is that nickel prices are in a bear market, China's stainless steel demand is falling, production costs are rising, resulting in shrinking profit margins or even close to zero, and some large-scale enterprises are therefore suspending their production lines.