Competition

Competitors describe PT Trimegah Bangun Persada Tbk's market in their own filings and calls. These verified passages and visual pages show where their strategies meet, using source documents preserved in Sources.

PT Merdeka Battery Materials Tbk (MBMA)

The closest structural analogue to Harita Nickel: the other IDX-listed integrated nickel group running a laterite mine (SCM), RKEF smelters and an HPAL-to-MHP build-out under the same Indonesian permitting regime, backed by domestic sponsors and run head-to-head against NCKL in local broker comparisons. Its annual report is also the only peer document that states a nickel-market view in the same regulatory vocabulary NCKL uses. Only the nickel chain is drawn on here; the AIM I pyrite/copper facility and the IKIP industrial estate are left out.

Two passages from the Nickel Industry Overview of MBMA's 2025 annual report (pp. 106-107). The characterisation is MBMA's; the demand figures are attributed to the International Nickel Study Group and the share figures carry no source. The part that matters for a Harita reader is that a direct competitor is publicly calling 2025 a significant surplus year driven by Indonesian and Chinese supply, with demand growth running behind supply growth - the price environment behind NCKL's realised FeNi and MHP prices in the same year. Treat the share claims as characterisation rather than measurement: page 107 carries both "more than one-third of the global nickel supply" and "around 50% of total global nickel output" within a few paragraphs of each other, and Eramet's country tables further down this tab put Indonesia at roughly 62% of ore production (INSG data) and 52% of finished primary nickel in 2024.

The combination of global economic slowdown, trade pressures, and oversupply caused the nickel industry to weaken, both in terms of prices and growth prospects. In 2025, the global nickel market was dominated by a surge in production, particularly from Indonesia and China, resulting in a significant surplus. Although demand for stainless steel and EV batteries continued to grow, the increase in demand was not proportional to the rise in supply, leading to downward pressure on nickel commodity prices throughout the year. In this regard, nickel continues to be regarded as a strategic metal for industrial and clean energy components, however, the market is facing structural challenges arising from oversupply and shifts in battery technology.

Based on projections from the International Nickel Study Group (INSG) meeting, global primary nickel demand grew by 4.8% in 2024 and is projected to increase further by 5.7% in 2025. Globally, China will continue to be the largest consumer of primary nickel, with its consumption expected to account for 63.5% of total global demand in 2025, followed by Indonesia, which is projected to contribute 12.2%. […] Approximately 42% of the world’s nickel reserves are located in Indonesia with its production accounts for around 50% of total global nickel output. The combination of abundant reserves and high production levels provides Indonesia with significant strategic leverage over the global supply chain, ranging from EV batteries to stainless steel.

p. 106 · Read in context →

MBMA's HPAL pipeline in its own words: PT ESG produced 25,994 tonnes of nickel in MHP in its first year of commercial sales, MNEM runs at 25,000 tpa of nickel in MHP, and a third plant, SLNC, is under construction at 90,000 tpa targeted for 2026. Set against NCKL's own 2025 disclosure of roughly 120,000 tonnes per year of installed HPAL nickel-cobalt capacity and 130,551 metal tonnes of MHP and nickel sulphate sold, MBMA is currently a fraction of Harita's MHP scale but has roughly 145,000 tpa of nameplate either running or in build - ESG at 30 ktpa NiEq and MNEM at 25 ktpa running, SLNC at 90 ktpa under construction (nameplates from p. 70). These are stated nameplate and production figures, not utilisation or cost, and SLNC's 2026 start is a target rather than a commissioned plant.

President Director's Report: In 2025, the MBMA Group reached a key milestone through PT ESG with the commencement of initial MHP sales after receiving its IUI in February 2025. During 2025, PT ESG produced 25,994 tons of nickel in MHP, while the FPP and slurry pipeline to IMIP had commenced operation in Q4 2025. This achievement reflects the operational readiness of the HPAL facility and strengthens MBMA Group’s position within the rapidly growing global battery materials supply chain.

The HPAL plant operated by MNEM, with an annual production capacity of 25,000 tons of nickel in MHP is currently operating and has transitioned to the new FPP at the SCM Mine site since Q4 2025. Meanwhile, the third HPAL facility, SLNC, with a planned capacity of 90,000 tons of nickel in MHP per year, was currently under construction and targeted to begin operations in 2026.

p. 45 · Read in context →

The competing RKEF cost line. MBMA reports 73,871 tonnes of nickel in NPI and LGNM for 2025 at a cash cost of US$9,406 per tonne of nickel, from three smelters with 19,000 / 19,000 / 50,000 tpa NiEq nameplate in which it holds 50.1%. NCKL's comparable disclosure for 2025 is roughly 240,000 tonnes per year of installed RKEF capacity and 188,581 tonnes of nickel contained in ferronickel sold. MBMA defines RKEF cash cost as direct cost per tonne of nickel produced including transport; NCKL does not publish a cash cost on that definition, so this is a benchmark for the level the basin operates at rather than a like-for-like margin comparison. Note also the product differs - MBMA sells NPI, NCKL sells higher-grade ferronickel.

The MBMA Group holds a 50.1% ownership in the RKEF Smelter located at IMIP. The RKEF Smelter facilities consist of several units such as CSID, BSID, and ZHN, which process saprolite nickel ore from the SCM Mine to produce NPI.

The CSID and BSID smelters commenced NPI production in 2019 and early 2020, respectively. Both smelters have a production capacity of 19,000 tpa NiEq and has consistently operated at utilization rates exceeding 100%, reflecting high operational efficiency and optimised production capacity. The third smelter, ZHN, began operations in 2023 with an installed capacity of 50,000 tpa NiEq.

Currently, the RKEF Smelter have undergone scheduled maintenance, and NPI production guidance has been revised to 70,000–80,000 tons. In 2025, the MBMA Group produced 73,871 tons of nickel in NPI and LGNM, comprising 72,106 tons of nickel in NPI and 1,765 tons of nickel in LGNM. This production was achieved at a cash cost of US$9,406/tNi.

p. 120 · Read in context →

Nickel Industries Limited (NIC)

ASX-listed but wholly Indonesia-operating, and running the same product straddle as Harita: RKEF nickel units plus a growing HPAL/MHP position, fed by its own laterite mine. It is by some distance the most disclosure-rich peer, publishing per-tonne cash costs, realised contract prices, ore price movements and RKAB quota outcomes - the level at which NCKL's economics can actually be benchmarked. Only the Indonesian nickel operations are used here; the group's financing, remuneration and ESG-award material is left out.

p. 6 — The RKEF page of Nickel Industries' FY2025 annual report, reproduced as filed - a competitor's full cost and price disclosure for the business that sits alongside NCKL's ferronickel segment. Record NPI production of 1,055,658 tonnes but 124,966 tonnes of contained nickel, down from 127,261 in 2024 on lower ore grade (11.8% vs 12.2%); cash costs of US$10,042/t Ni against a weighted average contract price of US$11,187/t Ni, and reported Adjusted EBITDA of US$1,197 per tonne sold, down from US$1,458. The four-year stacked chart shows group nickel output flat to falling since 2023. These are NIC's own non-IFRS measures on an 80%-owned basis and cover NPI rather than the higher-grade ferronickel NCKL sells, so the useful read is the spread - roughly US$1,100 per tonne of nickel between cash cost and realised price at 2025 prices. · Open source page →

A competitor's operating economics for an Indonesian HPAL plant, at the level NCKL does not disclose. The Huayue plant, in which NIC holds 10%, produced 85,031 tonnes of nickel and 8,023 tonnes of cobalt in MHP - 42% above its 60,000 tpa nameplate on NIC's arithmetic - at cash costs of US$7,765/t Ni, up 9% on higher sulphur costs, against a realised MHP price of US$14,990/t Ni. Sulphur is the input NCKL's own management flags as the swing factor in HPAL cost, and the cobalt credit of about US$1,900/t Ni quantifies the by-product economics that both companies rely on. Cash costs here exclude by-product credits, and the figures are the plant's, reported through a 10% holder.

During the year, the Huayue Nickel Cobalt (HNC) Project produced 85,031 tonnes of nickel and 8,023 tonnes of cobalt in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), outperforming nameplate capacity (60,000 tonnes of nickel per annum) by 42%. Combined operating cash costs increased by 9% year on year, primarily due to higher sulfur costs.

MHP contract prices increased by 8% to US$14,990/t Ni year on year supported by higher metal payability and stronger cobalt prices with the cobalt byproduct increasing to \~US$1,900/t Ni. Adjusted EBITDA for the year of US$6,677/t Ni was 12% higher than US$5,693/t in 2024.

p. 8 · Read in context →

The ore market NCKL sells into and buys from, described by a mine operator in it. Two things are visible: the price divergence - saprolite down 30% on a shrinking local premium while limonite rose 31% because Indonesian HPAL projects are bidding for feed - and the cost of the RKAB quota system, with US$21.3 million of standby charges because the 2025 quota extension did not arrive until 12 December. NCKL sold 30.59 million wmt of nickel ore in 2025 (12.09 saprolite, 18.50 limonite) against Hengjaya's 9.9 million wmt, and is exposed to the same annual quota cycle, though most of NCKL's ore moves to its own plants rather than to third parties. Prices are contract realisations at one mine, not a published index.

The Company’s Hengjaya Mine delivered another year of record production of 19.2 million wmt of nickel ore (15.1 million wmt of limonite and 4.1 million wmt of saprolite), and record sales of 9.9 million wmt under the existing Rencana Kerja dan Anggaran Biaya (RKAB) annual mining quota. The saprolite contract price is based on the Indonesian benchmark price plus a local premium. During the year, the saprolite contract price decreased 30%, driven by a reduction in the local premium. Despite the limonite nickel grade decreasing during the year, the limonite contract price increased 31% due to the increased demand for limonite ore from Indonesian HPAL projects. During the year, the Company experienced substantial downtime and $21.3 million in standby charges at the Hengjaya Mine as the RKAB extension was not granted until 12 December 2025 and consequently the Adjusted EBITDA decreased from $100.9m in 2024 to $91.6m in 2025. Subsequent to the end of the year the Company received an increase in its RKAB quota for 2026 to 14.3 million wmt.

p. 10 · Read in context →

Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co., Ltd. (603799)

The largest producer of Indonesian HPAL intermediate - the same product NCKL's HPL and ONC plants make - through the Huayue and Huafei plants at IMIP, with Pomalaa and Sorowako in construction alongside Vale Indonesia. It is also the refining and cathode-material buyer at the other end of the chain, so its disclosures show both how much MHP supply is arriving in the market and who ultimately consumes it. Only the nickel and Indonesia parts of the group are used here; the cobalt, lithium, copper and precursor/cathode businesses appear only where they set demand context.

How the largest Indonesian MHP producer sizes its own market: INSG-sourced global nickel supply of 3.81 million tonnes against demand of 3.6 million tonnes in 2025, a surplus of roughly 210,000 tonnes, with prices in the bottom of the range for most of the year. The competitively significant sentence is the last one - Huayou attributes the late-year price rebound and, more broadly, the global supply-demand balance to expectations around Indonesia's RKAB quota policy. That is a Chinese processor stating that the regulatory mechanism governing NCKL's own mining volumes is now the principal swing variable in the world nickel price.

According to INSG, the global nickel supply was 3.81 million tons and the demand 3.6 million tons in 2025. The nickel price throughout the year was mainly fluctuating within the bottom range due to the mismatch between supply and demand. At the end of the year, it rebounded significantly under the expectation of the tightening of Indonesia’s RKAB quota policy. From the supply side, global nickel production was highly concentrated in Indonesia. Its policy trends such as the RKAB quota have become key variables affecting the global nickel supply and demand balance.

p. 15 · Read in context →

Huayou's stated Indonesian position at the end of 2025: over 1.4 billion wet tonnes of nickel resource locked up through equity and offtake, MHP shipments of 235,000 tonnes from Huayue and Huafei (up 30%), a 120,000 t/yr Pomalaa HPAL plant expected to complete within the year, 60,000 t/yr at Sorowako and a 40,000 t/yr Huaxing RKEF project under construction - plus a whole-chain agreement with ANTAM and IBC. Against NCKL's 130,551 metal tonnes of MHP and nickel sulphate sold in 2025, this is the scale the MHP market is being supplied at by a single competitor. The unit basis of the 235,000-tonne figure is not restated here and the 2024 report used "metal tons" for a comparable intermediates line, so the two years are not a clean like-for-like; the project completion dates are company targets.

In the upstream resource sector, in Indonesia, efforts were made to intensify the development of mining resources. To date, a total of over 1.4 billion wet tons of nickel resources in Indonesia were locked in through various means such as investment, equity participation and underwriting, further consolidating the reserves of nickel and cobalt resources. The two HPAL projects, Huayue and Huafei, maintained stable and exceeded production capacity, achieving an annual MHP shipment of 235,000 tons, a 30% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. The Pomalaa HPAL project with an annual output of 120,000 tons of nickel metal progressed steadily as planned and is expected to be completed before the end of this year. The preparatory work for the Sorowako HPAL project with an annual output of 60,000 tons of nickel metal is proceeding in an orderly manner. The Huaxing RKEF project with an annual output of 40,000 tons of nickel metal has started construction. The construction of the Pomalaa Industrial Park is progressing smoothly and it has been awarded the title of “Important National Industrial Project of Indonesia”. The Company has reached strategic cooperation with ANTAM and IBC to carry out cooperation in the entire industrial chain of new energy vehicle batteries in Indonesia.

p. 18 · Read in context →

The same disclosure one year earlier, which is what makes it useful: plant-by-plant nameplate for the Indonesian HPAL build - Huafei at 120,000 t of MHP, Huayue at 60,000 t, Huake at 45,000 t of nickel matte - and nickel intermediate shipments of nearly 230,000 tonnes, up about 50% year on year. Note the slurry pipeline connecting the SCM mine to Huayue: that is MBMA's mine feeding Huayou's plant, an illustration of how tightly the Sulawesi ore-to-HPAL chain is interlocked compared with NCKL's fully self-supplied Obi Island complex. Both years' shipment figures are Huayou's own and include internally supplied volumes.

At the upstream resource end, in Indonesia, the Company invested in AJB, WKM and TMS mines, further enriching its nickel ore reserves. For the Huafei’s HPAL project with an output of 120,000t mixed hydroxide precipitate, it reached the target output by the end of the first quarter in 2024, the production capacity was gradually improved to achieve stable and over production; for the Huayue’s HPAL project with an output of 60,000t mixed hydroxide precipitat, it continuously exceeded the target output, and pulp pipeline connecting the SCM mine and Huayue project ran through the whole line, further reducing the production cost; Huake’s nickel matte project with an output of 45,000t nickel matte was operated stably; the shipment of nickel intermediates was nearly 230,000t, an increase of 50% over the same period last year.

p. 13 · Read in context →

Eramet SA (ERA)

Through a 38.7% indirect interest in PT Weda Bay Nickel, Eramet is partner in what it calls the world's largest nickel mine, on Halmahera - NCKL's own province of North Maluku - selling saprolite and limonite to the same class of Indonesian processors NCKL feeds internally, and constrained by the same RKAB quotas. Its Universal Registration Document is also the most methodical public account of how the nickel market is structured, with INSG country production tables and explicit MHP and matte volumes that size the market NCKL's HPAL segment sells into. Only the nickel chapters are used; manganese, mineral sands and lithium are excluded.

The clearest public definition of the two markets NCKL straddles, from a producer in both. Class 1 - pure nickel metal and the sulphates made from MHP and matte - was about 26% of 2024 primary nickel production; Class 2 ferroalloys, NPI and ferronickel, about 74%. The figure to carry is 350 kt of MHP produced in 2024 via HPAL in Indonesia, against 140 kt of nickel matte, with both intermediates mainly refined in China. NCKL sold 130,551 metal tonnes of MHP and nickel sulphate in 2025; the comparison is indicative only, since Eramet's number is 2024, is a production rather than sales figure, and NCKL's includes downstream sulphate. Eramet's stated MHP specification - 20 to 25% nickel and 5 to 10% cobalt - is also the payability basis on which NCKL's MHP is priced.

There are two categories of primary nickel:

• Class 1, pure nickel metal: mainly includes electrolytic nickel, powders and nickel briquettes. […] This class is usually associated with nickel salts, including nickel sulphates (NiSO ), which are mainly used in the production of precursors for active materials for the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries. With the boom in the electric vehicles sector, production of the above has expanded significantly. These are mainly manufactured from intermediate products such as MHP (Mixed Hydroxyde Precipitate) and nickel matte, and marginally by the dissolution of briquettes.

MHP is an intermediate product containing 20 to 25% of nickel and 5 to 10% of cobalt, and its production uses the HPAL (High Pressure Acid Leach) hydrometallurgical process, which is growing strongly in Indonesia, with 350 kt produced in 2024. The production of nickel matte has also increased in recent years, thanks to the NPI (Nickel Pig Iron) conversion process in Indonesia, representing 140 kt in 2024. These two intermediates are mainly refined in China.

In 2024, Class 1 represented around 26% of total primary nickel production;

• Class 2, nickel ferroalloys: this category mainly includes NPI and ferronickel, produced by pyrometallurgy and intended for the stainless steel market. These products are not qualified to be delivered in LME warehouses. In 2024, this class represented around 74% of global production of primary nickel, following the exponential growth of NPI in Indonesia and the dominance of stainless steel in the end use of nickel.

p. 76 · Read in context →

p. 77 — Eramet's country production tables, reproduced as filed - the market-share arithmetic behind every claim about Indonesian dominance. Ore production: Indonesia 2,328.0 kt of nickel content in 2024 out of 3,776.4 kt worldwide, roughly 62%, up from 767.0 kt in 2020. Finished primary nickel: Indonesia 1,779.8 kt of 3,392.7 kt, roughly 52%. The text between them states that 2024 was the fourth consecutive year of Indonesian leadership, that Indonesian output rose 22% on 2023, that about 1.9 Mt of NPI nickel content was produced in China and Indonesia, and that NPI's share of global primary nickel production rose to 54% from 24% in 2014. It also records that all Class 2 plants in Europe have stopped production on cost grounds. Both tables are on a nickel-content basis; the ore table is sourced to INSG (February 2025) and the finished-products table to Eramet itself, so neither will tie exactly to other compilations. · Open source page →

The ore-supply competitor's own strategy statement. Eramet puts nickel demand growth at 6% a year to 2027 with stainless steel about two-thirds of use, and positions Weda Bay in the first quartile of the cost curve, selling saprolite and laterite to local Class I and Class II producers. The volume numbers are the competitive point: 32 Mwmt permitted for 2025 - explicitly the ceiling of the current RKAB - with an ambition, agreed with partner Tsingshan and permitted under the 2024 AMDAL, to reach roughly 60 Mwmt a year, two-thirds saprolite. NCKL sold 30.59 Mwmt of nickel ore in 2025, so Weda Bay's current permitted volume is comparable to Harita's entire ore business and its stated ambition is roughly double it. "First quartile of the cost curve" is Eramet's own positioning claim, unquantified here.

Nickel demand is expected to increase by 6% (²)(average annual growth rate) over the 2024-2027 period, buoved by the resilient growth of stainless steel (which constituted about two-thirds of applications in 2024) and surging battery demand.

In this context, Eramet and its partner Tsingshan are developing the PT Weda Bay Nickel mine, which is positioned in the first quartile of the cost curve and supplies ore (saprolite and laterite) to local Class I and Il nickel producers. In accordance with the authorisations granted in October 2024 by the Indonesian Ministry of Mines. it is expected that

32 Mwmt of nickel ore will be marketed in 2025 - the limit of the current operating permits - with priority given to saprolites over laterites (whose nickel content is lower)

With its partner, the Group is still working to increase the mine's capacity to around 60 Mwmt per year, around two-thirds saprolites and around one-third laterites. in accordance with the environmental permit and the new long-term mining plan approved by the Indonesian authorities in the summer of 2024.