Industries

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has on Tuesday (Aug 31) inaugurated Kuningan Dam in West Java province with water storage capacity of 25.9 million m3. It will supply 3,000 hectares of paddy fields in three regencies of Kuningan and Cirebon in West Java and Brebes in Central Java. This one of 65 dams built by Jokowi in the period of 2014-2019. It was started by SBY administration in 2013, but construction delayed until 2017 due to difficulties in land acquisition.

Total car sales in France, the second largest auto market in Europe, fell sharply by 35% year-on-year to 115,713 units last month, but electric vehicle (EV) increased by 9.5% y-o-y to 19,096 units to make a market share of 16.5%. Hyundai, which builds EV factory in Indonesia, posted 13% decline y-o-y for all of its cars but plug-in enjoyed 39% growth in July with market share of 8.5%.

SmartFren (FREN), telco operator controlled by Sinarmas Group, reported a strong 15.1% growth in sales revenues to Rp4.95 trillion in the first half ended June 30, 2021 compared to the corresponding period last year, better than peers Indosat Ooredoo (ISAT) and XL Axiata (EXCL).

Indonesia booked trade surplus of US$2.59 billion in July 2021. Export revenues increased by 29.3% year-on-year to US$17.7 billion, but declined slightly by 4.5% from the previous month. Import expanded 44% y-o-y, but dropped 12.2% from June to reflect stricter movement restrictions imposed since early July to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Construction of four multifunction dams in some provinces have been completed, strengthening clean and irrigation water supply plus flooding control. The completed dams are Way Sekampung (Pringsewu Regency, Lampung province), Bendo (Ponorogo, East Java), Paselloreng (Wajo Regency, South Sulawesi), and Kuningan (Kuningan Regency, West Java). 

LME nickel returned to US$19,650 per ton last Friday (Aug 13), thanks to faster pace of electric vehicle (EV) disruption in Europe and China, two of the largest auto markets. US President Joe Biden’s target to have 50% sales of battery EV and plug-in-hybrid by 2030 also supported the commodity.

The Rokan-Riau block, the oil and gas block with the largest production (160,000 barrels per day), officially belongs to the state oil and gas company, Pertamina. PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia previously managed the Rokan Block. The Rokan block was discovered in 1941 and began production in 1951. Chevron entered in 1971.

PT Medikaloka Hermina Tbk (HEAL), owner and operator of Hermina hospital chain, booked net profit of Rp535.9 billion in the first half of 2021, surged by more than 400% from the corresponding period last year, thanks to stronger revenues. 

Connectivity of areas in the Greater Jakarta has improved further with operation of Section I of Cibitung-Cilincing toll road, which is part of the Jakarta Outer Ring Road-2 (JORR-2), over the weekend. Cibitung-Cilincing is key component of JORR-2 to connect industrial areas in Banten and West Java provinces with Tanjung Priok, the largest port in the country.