Industries

A preliminary estimates from the US Geological Survey (USGS) pointed to global nickel production at mines of 3.3 million tons last year, of which nearly half was in Indonesia. The largest economy in Southeast Asia reportedly produced 1.6 million tons of nickel at mines, an increase of 54% from the previous year.

Minister of public works and housing Basuki Hadimuljono has on Monday (Feb 6) kicked off physical construction of Probobolinggo-Banyuwangi (175.4 KM) toll road, which is the last section of trans-Java toll road. Construction starts at Section I of the toll road connecting Probolinggo and Besuki (49.68 KM) with estimated investment of Rp10 trillion.

Bahodopi, a sub-district in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi province will likely become another major nickel-based processing center. Coordinating minister for the economy Airlangga Hartarto is set to kick off construction of US$2.1 billion nickel processing facility in the area this week.

Wuling has increasingly gained traction with its local production of Air ev. Domestic sales is now closer to its production capacity. It is a matter of when it will boost domestic production in Cikarang, West Java province, especially with the government’s plan to start providing subsidies for EV sales this year.

Commercial operation of high-speed train (HST) connecting Jakarta and Bandung (West Java) plus light rail transit (LRT) in the Greater Jakarta in the coming months will likely accelerate development of mass transportation projects in other major cities of Indonesia, especially Surabaya (East Java) and Medan (North Sumatra).

Indonesian automotive industry has long been dominated by Japanese companies. Yet, we haven’t seen them in joining the country’s electric vehicle ambition. Chinese and South Koreans have been rolling out their major investments here. Sumitomo Metal Mining once announced US$1.8 billion nickel-for-EV smelter project, but pulled out last year.

German chemical company BASF has recently announced an investment in the capacity expansion of polymer dispersions at its production site in Merak. It aims to address the growth of new paper mills in Southeast Asia and Oceania. The expansion is in line with the...

Nickel has been volatile ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays. The commodity ended lower by 3% to US$26,575 per ton on the London Meal Exchange (LME) Tuesday (Jan 17). Nickel sulphate, key precursor of EV battery, has been under pressure from supply-demand balance since mid November 2022.

Over twenty contracts worth Rp25 trillion (US$1.6 billion) have been signed by the government last year, wherein most physical construction works will be seen this year. Over hundreds of companies have expressed their interest to invest there, wherein 70 have signed letter of interest.