Indonesia cobalt production 2026
Indonesia cobalt production in 2026 is forecast to reach 59,800 metric tons, a 21.2% increase over 2025, according to the analytics firm GlobalData. Cobalt is a metal used to make batteries for electric cars and phones, and the Democratic Republic of Congo has mined most of the cobalt mined worldwide for years. Indonesia is now the country closing that gap fastest. The United States Geological Survey, the government agency that counts mineral production, put Indonesia own mined cobalt at 35,000 metric tons in 2024, 12% of the world total, already almost double the 19,000 metric tons Indonesia mined in 2023.
The 2024 figure is the United States Geological Survey own government count. The 2025 and 2026 figures are an estimate and a forecast from the analytics firm GlobalData, not government data.
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| 2024 actual | 35 |
| 2025 estimated | 49.3 |
| 2026 forecast | 59.8 |
GlobalData estimates Indonesia mined 49,300 metric tons in 2025 and forecasts output climbing further to 97,900 metric tons by 2035, a compound annual growth rate of 5.6% from 2026. Growth this fast is not only a mining story. It is a construction story, new plants that turn raw nickel and cobalt ore into a partly refined product ready for a battery factory to finish.
New plants behind the growth
PT Vale Indonesia is building 3 of these processing plants at once. Bernardus Irmanto, president director of PT Vale Indonesia, told a hearing of Commission 12 of the Indonesian House of Representatives on 2026 01 19 that construction was already well underway.
The HPAL plant's construction progress has reached 60 percent, while the mining sector has also reached 60 percent.
Bernardus Irmanto, president director of PT Vale Indonesia. Source 5.
The plant Irmanto described, at Pomalaa, will process 120,000 tons a year of mixed hydroxide precipitate once finished, a partly refined nickel and cobalt product made ready for a battery factory to finish refining. Pomalaa is expected to employ 5,150 workers, and Vale Indonesia has targeted at least 2 of its processing units finished by August 2026 and the entire line running by January 2027. A 2nd plant at Bahodopi, targeted for mechanical completion in the 4th quarter of 2026, will add another 66,000 tons of yearly capacity and 3,579 jobs. A 3rd plant at Sorowako, only 17% built as of January 2026, will add 60,000 tons more once it starts running in 2027.
Mixed hydroxide precipitate is a partly refined nickel and cobalt product. Figures are the yearly capacity Vale Indonesia states for each plant once construction finishes.
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| Pomalaa | 120 |
| Bahodopi | 66 |
| Sorowako | 60 |
Congo caps exports as Indonesia grows
Indonesia own growth is landing at the exact moment the Democratic Republic of Congo is doing the opposite. The Democratic Republic of Congo set a 2026 cobalt export quota of 96,600 metric tons, a figure this article calculates by adding an 87,000 metric ton base quota to a 9,600 metric ton a year stockpile plan announced separately, arithmetic that reconciles 2 numbers that would otherwise look like they disagree. That quota follows a months long export ban Congo ran through 2025. The world cobalt market is still forecast to run a 10,700 metric ton deficit in 2026, against 292,300 metric tons of demand, even with Indonesia own growth counted in. A reader who has only followed cobalt as a Congo story has not yet learned that a 2nd country is scaling up fast enough to reshape who controls the next stage of the battery supply chain.