Indonesia recorded trade surplus of US$5.8 billion from iron & steel (HS 72) in the first five months of 2023, down 10.9% from the corresponding period last year, among others due to correction in global price of steel. Indonesia’s export from the sector declined 12.2% in the period, while import fell 14.6%.

Indonesia recorded export revenues of US$21.7 billion in May 2023, an increase of 0.96% only year-on-year, while the first five months already dropped 6% to US$108.06 billion. It is well anticipated because of correction in almost all key export commodities, especially minerals (nickel, coal) and palm oil. 

Jakarta Outer Ring Road-2 (JORR-2) is moving closer to completion after almost two decades of development/construction. Started out by SBY administration (2004-2014), only less than five KM of the total length of 110 KM was completed. Jokowi administration, however, managed to accelerate the project, which will ease traffic congestions in the Greater Jakarta, West Java, and Banten provinces.

Some use the same old argument in opposing the government’s export ban of bauxite, i.e. not enough domestic processing capacity. We heard the same argument many years ago when President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo decided to give no more room for export of nickel ores. We all know, however, that the country attracted over US$20 billion of investments in nickel-to-EV battery since then.

Two areas, Morowali in Central Sulawesi and Halmahera in North Maluku, have made headlines worldwide for major investments in nickel processing into nickel pig iron (NPI), nickel-cobalt sulfate, or stainless steel. Obi Island, also in North Maluku, however, gains traction because of billions of USD investment in the small island.

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.