Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto recently attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a nickel-based stainless steel plant at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi. The plant, built by PT Krakatau Steel, has a designed annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of steel billet and will utilize local nickel ore resources through modern smelting and refining processes.
The groundbreaking marks the launch of the second phase of the downstreaming program. This phase includes 13 sub-projects with a total investment of 116 trillion Indonesian rupiah, covering five energy projects, five mineral projects, and three agricultural projects. Prabowo noted that the first phase of downstreaming had advanced 13 projects across 13 locations, with six new projects added this year, and plans to continue expanding to a fourth, fifth, and even sixth phase based on progress.
Investment management agency Danantara stated in a written statement that the stainless steel project helps increase domestic mineral value-added while promoting employment growth and sustainable economic development in the industrial zone. Besides the stainless steel plant, the groundbreaking also involves projects in energy, metal minerals, construction materials, and agriculture, aimed at reducing import dependence, strengthening the national industrial supply chain, and enhancing processing value-added for domestic resources.
Danantara added that downstreaming is a strategic means to drive natural resource processing and industrialization, generating greater added value at home. In addition, downstreaming helps boost economic independence and reduce reliance on global supply chains affected by geopolitical and other factors. By strengthening the domestic supply chain, downstreaming can more reliably secure national needs while shifting the economic structure toward higher-value industries.
Written by Cora Ji, jiruyan@mysteel.com
