Reuters reported that nickel prices could recover next year, when Indonesia brings in a planned ban on unprocessed ore exports, said executives from Russia's Norilsk Nickel.

Indonesia is the world's top exporter of nickel laterite ore, which is mostly shipped to China to be used as a cheap substitute for nickel in stainless steel.

Mr Pavel Fedorov deputy chief executive of Norilsk Nickel, who met government and industry officials in Jakarta to assess how the policy would be implemented said that a strictly enforced ban on exports of ore would support demand for refined nickel.