The Indonesian government made a U-turn on its 2014 ban on the export of unprocessed bauxite and nickel concentrates last week.
The ban, which covered all unprocessed minerals, wiped out almost overnight a lucrative supramax trade ferrying bauxite and nickel ores to China, the biggest consumer of Indonesian minerals.
The ban was imposed to encourage mining companies to establish higher-value smelting industries within the Southeast Asian archipelago, but did not bring the desired result.
China
