REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SOLO -- In his speech at the opening of the Indonesian Economic Scholars Association (ISEI) Congress last Thursday (19/9/2024), President Joko Widodo stressed the importance of downstream to increase the added value for Indonesia's natural resources. In his explanation, the President laid out the success of the nickel industry as a concrete example of the downstream process.

“The nickel business is our focus, from nickel ore to nickel peak iron, then to nickel met, and then to stainless steel,” Jokowi said. He said that the industry had already reached stainless steel production, with the process still underway towards other derived products, such as cutlery and syringes.

The president also highlighted the development of the battery industry, where nickel ore has been processed into smelters, precursors, and cathodes into cell batteries. “Now we have produced about 180,000 electric cars, and in the future we could reach one million,” he added.

In addition to nickel, President Jokowi stated that downstream had been carried out on copper and bauxite. He revealed that two new smelters in Sumbawa and Gresik, which require investments of around Rp 50 trillion to Rp 60 trillion, will start operating next week. “It should be noted that Freeport is now owned by Indonesia through MIND ID, with ownership that will increase to 60 percent,” the President said.