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.

Petrochemical giant Chandra Asri (TPIA) booked net profit of US$164.4 million in the first half of 2021 against net loss of US$40 million in the corresponding period last year, thanks to stronger sales growth rooted in higher volume and average prices of both olefins and polyolefins (polyethylene/PE and polypropylene/PP). 

Siloam Hospitals (SILO), member of Lippo Group, recorded net profit of Rp292 billion in the first half of 2021 against net loss of Rp130 billion in the corresponding period last year, thanks to substantial increase in sales revenues due to the spike of Covid-19 cases in the country. 

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) continues to push smelter developers toward completing their construction projects. “As mandated by the Law (No. 3/2020), we continue to push mining companies to finish the construction of their respective smelter … there is a cap on how many smelters can be built due to the nickel sulphate supply constraint. The target for 2021 is four new smelters, bringing the total of operating smelters to 23, 16 of which are nickel smelters, two copper smelters, two bauxite smelters, one iron ore smelter, one manganese smelter and one zinc smelter. The target is to have 53 smelters by 2024,” The Directorate General for Minerals and Coal Ridwan Jamaludin told us on Aug. 26 via text message. 

Strong sales of electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide in the first half of 2021 might have contributed to significantly higher price in some metals, particularly copper and nickel. PT Freeport Indonesia, one of the world’s largest producers of copper, for example, reported around US$3.4 billion of sales revenues from copper alone in the first half, jumped by 221% from the corresponding period last year.

So, Indonesia booked trade surplus of US$11.86 billion in the first half of 2021, jumped by nearly 119% from the corresponding period last year, thanks to strong performance of non oil and gas sector. The oil and gas suffered trade deficit of US$5.7 billion in the period, surged by 58% from the same period last year due to higher average prices and domestic consumption. 

Indonesia’s logistic performance index (LPI) is slated to improve further with commercial operation of additional 406 KM toll roads this year. As of today, a total of 2,386 KM toll roads is operational, but will double to 5,103 KM by 2024. The pandemic doesn’t stop construction of the projects all over the country. 

Approval from BPOM, Indonesia’s FDA, for clinical trial of Ivermectin in the treatment of Covid-19 patients lifted shares of Indofarma (INAF) from Rp2,070 on June 18 to Rp3,200 on Tuesday (June 29). Hype over the drug sent its price sky high whilst limited data about efficacy. 

Indonesia has been struggling with the surge of Covid-19 infections in the past few weeks. While full economic recovery might be delayed further to next year, the country managed to proceed with major construction projects. Construction of some major dams have recently been completed, while 373 KM of new toll roads will likely enter commercial operation in the second half.

Unlike nickel, which has attracted over US$10 billion of investments in the past seven years or so, Indonesia has only few investors entered the bauxite processing into alumina. The first, a chemical grade alumina (CGA) smelter, was built by state mining company Aneka Tambang (ANTM), whilst failures to bring it to design capacity almost one decade after completion.