11 smelters closed after exports relaxed
THE INDONESIAN Resources Studies (IRESS) has revealed that 11 smelters were closed following the relaxation of concentrate exports by the government as miners prefer to directly export their products.
“There are people who have suffered from the export relaxation, and because of the policy, the market is flooded by the commodity, making the prices go down,” IRESS executive director Marwan Batubara said on Thursday as reported by tempo.co.
The government issued three regulations that combined essentially allowed miners to export their low mineral concentrates for bauxite and nickel.
Marwan said these three regulations also cost Indonesia the opportunity to greatly benefit from smelting activities and create jobs.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Handoyo from the Indonesian Smelting and Manufacturing Business Association said that the group was now tracking companies that had been affected by the government policy. “There are those who have negotiated with the banks and those who let go of their employees,” Jonathan added.
The 11 smelters were respectively owned by PT Karyatama Konawe Utara, PT Macika Mineral Industri, PT Bintang Smelter Indonesia, PT Huadi Nickel, PT Titan Mineral, PT COR Industri, PT Megah Surya, PT Blackspace, PT Wan Xiang, PT Jinchuan and PT Transon.
The three government regulations were: Government Regulation No 1/2017 on the relaxation of concentrate exports, followed by the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister’s Regulations No 5/2017 and No 6/2017, essentially allowing miners to export their low mineral concentrates for bauxite and nickels.
