Category: Industries

East Kalimantan is the second largest exporter in the country, mainly because of its natural gas, thermal coal, and palm oil. In the past few years, however, some have developed nickel smelters in the energy-rich province. Relatively quiet in the national media, PT Kalimantan Ferro Industry (KFI) has just inaugurated the first phase of its nickel smelter in Sanga-Sanga, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan province with estimated investment of Rp30 trillion.

Early last month, Infineon Technologies AG, market leader for power semiconductors, announced expansion of its facilities in Kulim, Malaysia with the construction of the world’s largest 200-milimeter SiC (silicon carbide) Power Fab to anticipate the growing trend of decarbonization worldwide.

Many countries are looking at Batam, Riau Islands province as an investment destination due to its strategic geographical location. Batam Free Zone Authority (BP Batam) recorded that 83.6% of foreign investment in the Riau Islands in the H1 of 2023 entered Batam with US$348.09 million or Rp5.15 trillion of the province’s total investment of US$416.4 million.

Global efforts to combat climate change, combined with geopolitical tension leading to high price of conventional fuels, has led to annual double digit growth of photovoltaic (PV) installations in the past few years. Few weeks ago, Vantage Market Research estimated the global solar PV glass market alone to have US$37.6 billion value by 2030, surged from US$6.5 billion last year.

Indonesia recorded trade surplus of US$187 million in August for non oil and gas trade with China. If combined with oil and gas, the surplus should be substantially bigger because China is among main export destination of Indonesian LNG from Tangguh, West Papua province.

Indonesian heavy equipment market has long been dominated by America’s Caterpillar and Japan’s Komatsu and Kobelco. Growing investments and involvement of China, however, has led to faster growth of Chinese brands, particularly Sany.

Indonesia is still waiting final investment decision from giants like Tesla and BASF-Eramet in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem. BASF-Eramet is scheduled to make decision in the coming weeks for its US$2.6 billion nickel-cobalt salts smelter in Halmahera, North Maluku province. Forget about Tesla for the time being, because it may not come soon.

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has on Tuesday (Sep 12) inspected construction progress of Lotte Chemical’s nearly US$4 billion petrochemical complex project in Cilegon, Banten province. Planned since 2012 during SBY administration, we finally see the light under Jokowi.

Nearly 12 years after acquiring local cigarette producer, South Korea’s KT&G has recently secured support from Indonesian government to build new production facilities in East Java province.

We have every reason to be optimistic about the country’s connectivity, especially if the next president continues infrastructure projects started massively by President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo. Extension of the light-rail transit (LRT) and mass-rapid transit (MRT) in Greater Jakarta, expansion of high-speed train (HST) from Bandung to Surabaya, and completion of trans-Sumatra toll road program should be done by Jokowi’s successor.