Indonesia says forced labour claims to spur improved commodity sector supervision, September 27

Indonesia will improve supervision of its commodities sector after the U.S. Department of Labor said there was forced labour in the country's nickel industry, a senior manpower ministry official said on Friday.

Indonesia is the world's biggest nickel producer, a product that is vital in the production of electric vehicles (EV), and has increased domestic processing of the metal.

Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Labor, citing reports by non-governmental groups, has included nickel from Indonesia on its annual "list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor".

Yuli Adiratna, the ministry's director of labour inspection, told Reuters the U.S. report would be the basis of the ministry improving "supervision of regulations and international standards" in the commodities sector, without providing details.

Yuli said the ministry has not verified the claims in the U.S. report, which include workers being deceptively recruited in China, being underpaid, suffering physical punishment, and having their passports confiscated.

Indonesia's nickel industry is centred on the island of Sulawesi and is dominated by Chinese companies.

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The Chinese embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the contents of the U.S. report.

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