Industries

Indonesia welcomed 865,810 visits of foreigners in April 2023, down slightly by 0.39% from the previous month, of which 703,238 entered through main entrance gates (airports and seaports). Still below monthly visits before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2018 and 2019, but moved closer to full recovery.

Some high-profile mass transportation, particularly the Greater Jakarta light-rail transit (LRT) and the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train (HST) are both in final preparation phase before start commercial operation in the coming weeks, which will further improve the country’s connectivity outlook.

The opposition, including those close to Anies Baswedan, presidential hopeful from a coalition of NasDem, Democratic Party, and PKS, continue to criticize infrastructure projects, including the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train (HST). They mainly pointed to cost overrun, which reached US$1.2 billion.

Looks like that president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo responded promptly concerns from global investors about domination of China in nickel-EV battery business. After meeting leaders of BASF AG (Germany), Volkswagen (Germany), and Eramet (France) in Germany few weeks back, the president received investment minister Bahlil Lahadalia on Wednesday (May 31), who reported a plan from another European consortium to develop the EV ecosystem.

After years of talk and talk, South Korean Lotte Chemical has recently moved faster to build the US$3.5 billion petrochemical complex in Cilegon, Banten province. This is the biggest investment commitment in the chemical industry for many years. 

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for maritime and investment affairs, has just returned home from a visit to China, where he met leaders of some major business players late last week. On Monday, Luhut was speaker at China (Sichuan)-Indonesia Economic and Trade Conference in Jakarta.

Attracting investors to participate in the development of new capital city Nusantara in Penajam Paser Utara, East Kalimantan province proved to be challenging. But, it took years for domestic investors, including major business groups, to join toll road projects (after 2014 presidency of Jokowi). 

PT Nippon Shokubai Indonesia, subsidiary of Japan’s Nippon Shokubai, inaugurated its third acrylic acid facility with the production capacity of 100,000 metric tons per annum in Cilegon, Banten province.  The new facility, built with US$200 million of investment, makes Indonesia the largest production base for Shokubai outside Japan.

Coal miner Adaro Energy Indonesia (ADRO) and its subsidiary Adaro Minerals Indonesia (ADMR) provide loans to subsidiaries as a commitment to develop an aluminum smelter in North Kalimantan province, which is slated to start commercial operation in 2025.