(ILMATE) Harjanto di Jakarta, Friday (23/2).
The Ministry of Industry continues to encourage an increase in national aluminum production, targeting of 1.5-2 million tons by 2025. For this reason, a strategic policy from the government is needed so that existing manufacturers can expand or attract new investment.
“Some of the efforts we have undertaken include focusing on creating a conducive business climate, implementing an downstreaming industry program to increase added value, and spurring the use of domestic production,” said Director General of the Metal, Machinery, Transportation and Electronic Equipment Industry.
The importance of boosting aluminum production is in accordance with Presidential Regulation Number 3 of 2016 concerning the Acceleration of the National Strategic Project (PSN) Implementation. In this case, PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminum (Persero) or Inalum, as one of the PSNs that is being accelerated in its development. Moreover, Inalum bears an important mandate from the state as the holding company in holding BUMN mining.
“We appreciate the completion of the Inalum project in 2017 which produces aluminum products of 260 thousand tons per year,” said Harjanto. The total capacity consists of 90 thousand tons of alloy ingot production, 30 thousand tons of aluminum billet and 140 thousand tons of primary aluminum ingot per year. Meanwhile, domestic aluminum needs currently reach 900 thousand tons per year.
Some time ago, Harjanto paid a working visit to Inalum – located in Kuala Tanjung, Sei Suka Sub district, Batu Bara District, Medan, North Sumatra – the oldest aluminum industry in Southeast Asia, which was built in 1979. This industri has three main factories in the area of 200 hectares, including a carbon plant, a reduction plant and a pouring plant.
“We held a focus group discussion there, that invited all stakeholders, such as government agencies and industry associations, especially upstream-downstream aluminum-based industries. We want to jointly build a more productive and globally competitive national industry.” he explained.
Harjanto said that the results of the group’s discussion included bringing aluminum suppliers and buyers together, agreement on the application of the latest technology and standardization, and efforts to increase the use of domestic products.
“One of the strategies to boost the domestic aluminum industry is to apply SNI that does not yet exist in aluminum products to prevent the entry of imported products that are not in accordance with standards. We will also compile a database of products that have been made domestically, and control the amount of imported periodically, “said Harjanto.
With the addition of Inalum’s production capacity, it is expected to play a role in reducing imports so as to maintain the country’s foreign exchange expenditure. “In fact, as value added increases, it will also have an impact on job creation,” he added.
Regarding to Inalum’s plan in building an aluminum factory in the Tanah Kuning Industrial Estate, North Kalimantan, the state-owned company is currently waiting for certainty in electricity supply to support its production activities.
“This industry needs a fairly large amount of energy, and competitive prices too,” said Harjanto. Meanwhile, electricity supply for the Tanah Kuning Industrial Estate, Kaltara is planned to be distributed by the Kayan River Hydroelectric Power Plant to be built.
For the present, Managing Director of PT Inalum Budi Gunadi Sadikin said, Inalum produced around 250,000-260,000 tons of aluminum in 2017. Inalum plans to increase production to 500,000 tons in 2021. “Our increase in 2017 is more than 25 percent compared to 2016,” he said.
For long term plan, Inalum targets total aluminum production to reach two million tons per year. This plan is supported by the Smelting Plan in Kuala Tanjung and the factory in North Kalimantan. The factory in North Kalimantan is targeted to begin construction in 2020.
In Inalum business plan, North Kalimantan will produce one million tons of aluminum per year. Currently, aluminum are needed for various sectors, including supporting the construction industry and transmission in 35 thousand megawatts, automotive, shipping, infrastructure and household products.
This Press Release is for dissemination.
Source : Kementrian Perindutrian R.I.