Current Ambitions: The World’s Next EV Superpower?
March 26th, 2025
Via The Economist, a look at where three Asian countries vying to become the next electric-vehicle superpower: IN A SCRAPPY office that is more startup than ivory tower, Yossapong Laoonual, honorary chairman of the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand, strikes a bullish tone. Clinging to the internal-combustion engine is “like doubling down on horse-drawn carriages long […]
Read more »Indonesia’s $1 Billion Win in Apple Negotiations Sets New Precedent
February 28th, 2025
Via Bloomberg, a report on Indonesia’s negotiations with Apple: For five months, Indonesians didn’t have access to Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone 16, as a tug of war between the country and company ensued. The tussle was initiated by a more assertive new government, which banned sales of the handset on the grounds that the US company didn’t […]
Read more »The Nickel-based Industrial Paradox: Indonesian Resources, Chinese Profits
February 18th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, commentary on whether Jakarta’s industrial incentives reflect misaligned priorities? Indonesia’s nickel downstreaming is one of the most debated industrial policies in the world today. With strong backing from Tsingshan Holding Group and Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co Ltd, two major Chinese steel manufacturers, the Indonesian government has pursued an ambitious nickel-based industrial strategy, often […]
Read more »ASEAN’s Tiger Economies Have Lost Their Roar
February 15th, 2025
Via Nikkei Asia, a look at how – with diverse national circumstances – Southeast Asia remains less than the sum of its parts: In the bubble years of the late 1980s, the appreciation of the Japanese yen sent a flood of investment from corporate Japan to the fast-growing economies of Southeast Asia. Matsushita, as Panasonic […]
Read more »Indonesia: The ‘OPEC’ of Nickel
February 15th, 2025
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on Indonesia and what it may do with its newfound power over a mineral that will be crucial for everything from prices to the future of mining investments: Just over a decade ago, Bahodopi, a remote district in eastern Indonesia, was a tangle of lush, tropical forest. There […]
Read more »Indonesia’s Risky Gamble With Sea Sand Exports
February 14th, 2025
Via Dialogue Earth, a look at Indonesia’s risky decision to restart sea sand exports to neighboring countries: Unregulated sand dredging in the early 2000s pushed Nipah to the brink of submersion, eroding its shores and threatening its existence. This small Indonesian island near Singapore, measuring just 0.62 hectares at high tide and 60 hectares at […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.