Industries

State aluminum firm PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium or INALUM, subsidiary of MIND ID (holding company for state mining companies), has appointed Ilhamsyah Mahendra as the new President Director, replacing Danny Praditya, a suspect on corruption in PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGAS or PGN) where he served as Commercial Director before assuming duties as Managing Director of Inalum. Danny was appointed as President Director of INALUM in 2023. Ilhamsyah’s appointment as President Director of INALUM is a decision taken after the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on Tuesday (July 16).

Indonesia needs more investment in tourism infrastructure in order to balance the dominant hospitality sector and stimulate tourism growth. The industry yet to fully recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, but investors continue to pledge more in the sector.

The new capital city (IKN) Nusantara or Jokowiland is claimed the single largest construction project in the world. By far, Jokowi administration already spent US$5 billion. The project, which seems everything for Jokowi, was expected to drive up demand for construction materials. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for the country’s ceramic industry.

As of last week, the government has spent Rp83.4 trillion or US$5 billion for the new capital city (IKN) Nusantara in Penajam Paser Utara regency, East Kalimantan province. This is actually the total amount of money from the State Budget needed to build Nusantara until 2045, while the biggest chunk (80%) from the Rp400 trillion shall be sourced from the private sector.

Today is a big day in the world of electric vehicle (EV). Members of European Union (EU) are set to vote on imposing provisional tariffs, up to 37.6%, on Chinese-made EVs. Germany, the largest automotive player in EU, is said to abstain from the vote, worrying about potential retaliation because a third of German carmakers sales were made in China.

Late last year, Jokowi approved additional US$4.25 billion for ministry of defence led by incoming president Prabowo Subianto. As usual, the ruling elite pointed to ‘si vis pacem, para bellum’ phrase to justify the use of offshore loan in 2024-2029 for the controversial additional budget even though we’re not in ‘bellum’ with anyone. 

Shares of cigarette maker Gudang Garam (GGRM) slipped 0.43% to Rp17,225 on Thursday (July 11), to market capitalization of Rp33.153 trillion. While its peer, HM Sampoerna (HMSP), slipped 0.69% to Rp720 to market capitalization of Rp83.749 trillion.

Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Jakarta recorded almost 18.48 million passengers in the H1 of 2024, more than half of the full year target. PT MRT Jakarta, the operator of the Jakarta MRT, is targeting to serve 33.67 million passengers this year, in line with the Jakarta Government’s efforts to improve the use of public transportation.

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, for the first time, inaugurated commercial operation of the last section of Jakarta Outter Ring Road-2 (JORR), connecting Cikeas-Cibitung, on Tuesday (Jul 9). Completion of the toll road should be a relief for the troubled state construction firm Waskita Karya (WSKT), owner of 35% shares. It might also raise attractiveness of the toll road should Waskita decided to offload the remaining shares.

Iron and steel are currently the second largest non oil and gas export group behind thermal coal for Indonesia. Export volume skyrocketed over 200 percent in the past four years or so. It is unfortunate, however, that steel price in international market retreated 10% year-on-year due to higher production and weaker demands.