Indonesia Commodity Export Rethink Rattles Metals, Miners
- Nickel stocks tumble as export rules relaxed; copper rises
- Freeport needs to convert license before exports can resume
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Indonesia rewrote its mineral export rules in a surprise shift of policy that rattled mining companies from the U.S. to Japan and sent copper prices to the highest in a month.
Nickel producers from Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. to Nickel Asia Corp. tumbled after Southeast Asia’s biggest economy said it will allow some exports of nickel ore and bauxite, easing a ban on unprocessed ore shipments in place since 2014. Freeport-McMoRan Inc., the U.S. company that operates the world’s second-largest copper mine in the province of Papua, dropped after the government said it must change its operating terms before it can ship overseas. Nickel fell in London while copper was near the highest in a month.