(Bloomberg) — Indonesia has become the world’s second-largest cobalt producer, bolstering its bid to be a big player in the electric-vehicle supply chain.
Production of the battery material in the Southeast Asian country surged past others including Russia and Australia to grab the No. 2 spot last year, according to US government data.
The expansion will continue this decade, easing the world’s reliance on Democratic Republic of Congo for more than two thirds of supplies and staving off potential shortages, analysts say.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has spearheaded the country’s push to build battery and EV industries on the back of the country’s rich mineral resources. It already produces about half of the world’s nickel, and its share of global cobalt output will rise to almost 20% by 2030, from about 1% in 2021, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
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