Indonesia fails to announce rules for nickel production cuts LME nickel price slumps nearly 8% in two days

Analysts at UOB Kay Hian Holdings noted that unless the production cut quota is substantially and consistently implemented, the nickel price trend will remain uncertain. He also mentioned that the short-term impact of the production cut program is limited, as most of the investment projects that have been agreed upon are likely to be exempted from the production cut restrictions in the next 1-2 years. As of 14:41 Jakarta time, nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange were at $17,895,000 per ton, down 3.4%, while copper prices were at $12,899,950 per ton, down 2.56%.

In line with the trend of nickel prices, copper prices also retreated from record highs, and other industrial metals fell in tandem, mainly traders in the previous period of rapid price increases after profit-taking. Futures contracts for copper, nickel, zinc and other varieties on the London Metal Exchange closed down more than 2%, giving back some of the gains of the past few weeks. Previously China's domestic metal market of large-scale capital inflows, had been the core driving force to push prices higher.

Although most traders and investors remain bullish on the long-term trend of copper and other metals, but the current round of rapid price rally also triggered the market alert, profit-taking may lead to a sharp price correction. Analysts at the Marks Group said the current general decline in the metals market is a typical performance of adjustment after excessive gains in the previous period, and base metals analysts are struggling to follow up on the recent round of surging prices. 2025 copper prices have accumulated a cumulative gain of more than 40%, the largest annual gain since 2009, and the reasons behind this include the production disruptions at a number of large-scale copper mines, as well as the efforts of traders to hedge potential tariff risks by sending metal stockpiles to the the U.S. to avoid potential tariff risks, and massive metal stockpile transfers by traders to the U.S.