Babcock (United Kingdom), Fincantieri-Leonardo (Italy), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan), Naval Group (France), MTG Marinetechnik (Germany) and FIGES AS (Turkey), are among global defense contractors expecting to get contracts from ministry of defense to ‘modernize’ weaponry system of Indonesian Navy.

In the past few weeks, we read more promising news from the US about electric vehicle (EV). As the world’s largest automobile market, US (3% of total car sold) has been lagging behind China (12%) and Europe (20%) in EV market. General Motors and Ford, two of the world’s largest automakers, however, have recently shown their strong desire to takeover the market lead from Tesla.

Indonesia’s manufacturing industry gains traction during the Covid-19 pandemic with commercial operation of new factories for export market and new investments in metal processing, petrochemicals, new energy, and EV battery. In early July, Indonesia added export of smelter grade alumina (SGA) from PT Bintan Alumina Indonesia, a joint venture between investors from China, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

After years of intense lobby, PT HKML Baterai Indonesia, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution, has finally kicked off construction of an electric vehicle (EV) battery in Karawang, West Java province with estimated investment of US$1.1 billion. The importance of the event can be seen in the attendance of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo, chairman of Hyundai Motor, and CEO of LG Energy Solution in the ground breaking ceremony.

Indonesia booked trade surplus of US$4.74 billion in August 2021, a new record, thanks to 64% jump in export, while import grew 55.3% year-on-year. The country, accordingly, generated trade surplus of US$19.17 billion in the first eight months, the highest in Indonesian history. Overall, export expanded by 37.8% to US$142 billion in the period, while import increased by 33.4% to US$122.8 billion. 

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.