The Indonesian President, Jokowi, has reiterated that he will ban exports of raw minerals such as tin, bauxite, and copper shortly. Previously, Jokowi had succeeded in banning the export of nickel ore.
Jokowi said that in the early days of the ban on nickel exports, many people commented that they did not agree and asked the government to be careful because the value of the country’s exports could plummet due to stopping the export of nickel ore.
in fact, after the ban on nickel ore exports was stopped and Indonesia promoted nickel downstream in the country to get export results with added value, the state’s revenue from nickel downstream exports increased.
“In the past, nickel exports were only raw, now there is a smelter industry. And we have to force it. In the past, our nickel was stopped crowded, anyone came to say that exports could plummet because of stopping nickel exports,” said Jokowi in the agenda of the UOB Economic Outlook 2022, Thursday (29/9/2022).
Jokowi noted, through the ban on nickel ore exports to become exports through the downstream process, state revenues skyrocketed significantly from previously only US$ 1.1 billion or Rp 15 trillion in 2017 to US$ 20.9 billion or Rp 360 billion in 2017. 2021.
“Jumping from Rp 15 trillion to Rp 360 trillion, that’s just nickel. We will stop tin and copper later. Stop exporting raw goods again,” he said.
“Downstreaming should not take decades to sell commodities, now they have stopped but one by one, not at the same time,” said Jokowi.
Until now, domestic tin absorption is still minimal or reaches 5% or 3,500 of the total tin production. Meanwhile, the results of export activities in 2020 will reach around 74 thousand tons.
In fact, the ban on the export of nickel and tin ores is considered different. The reason is that so far the tin exported is tin in the form of purification or pure tin of the tin ingot type with an Sn content of 99.99 or 99.99%.
If the ban on Indonesian tin exports is carried out suddenly, Indonesia will lose. The reason is, Indonesia’s market share will be taken by neighboring countries, where the largest tin export from Indonesia is China.
furthermore, if tin export activities are stopped, Indonesia will lose the export foreign exchange due to the lack of absorption in the country. Secretary General of AETI, Jabin Sufianto stated that foreign exchange from tin exports for Indonesia reached US$ 8 billion or Rp 121.24 trillion (Rp 15,156 per US dollar exchange rate).
Meanwhile, the Deputy for Investment Cooperation at the Investment Ministry, Riyatno, ensured that the government’s policy to prohibit the export of raw minerals, such as tin, bauxite, and copper, would take place in stages.
“According to the direction of the Minister, the export of these raw minerals will begin in stages,” said Riyatno when contacted via short message, Tuesday night, September 27, 2022.
The ban on exports of raw commodities is an effort to accelerate downstream. Previously, G20 member countries had also agreed to support industrial downstream, especially in developing countries, in the Bali Compendium.
The agreement is in line with the implementation of the G20 Trade, Investment, and Industry Ministerial Meeting (TIIMM) which will take place on 22-23 September 2022 in Nusa Dua, Bali. The G20 Forum agreed that Indonesia and other developing countries should not intervene in terms of accelerating the downstream of mining products.
