JAKARTA - The steel industry is one of the strategic sectors or referred to as the "mother of industries" because it plays an important role in supplying raw material needs for many other industrial sectors. Among them are the construction sector, transportation equipment, heavy equipment, electronics, and defense equipment.
The Minister of Industry said that after going through various waves and variants of the Covid-19 pandemic, the base metal industry managed to record positive growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 by 11.31%, up from 9.52% in the previous quarter. “The growth of this sector is higher than the average growth of the national industry. I give my appreciation to all steel industry players in the country," he said.
The Minister of Industry revealed that the contribution of the industrial sector to the economy can be seen from three things. First, expansion through increased investment. “We saw PT Gunung Raja Paksi Tbk. has increased investment, one of which is a light section mill (NGO) which is expected to start production in April this year and a new blast furnace operation in September," he explained.
The second contribution is through exports which bring in foreign exchange for the nation and state. "GRP conveyed its plan to increase the export portion to 20 percent by 2022," said the Minister of Industry.
Third, deepening of industrial structure. The Minister of Industry hopes that all steel industries can immediately deepen the structure, participate in building and fulfill the steel supply chain, from upstream, so as to produce cheap and quality raw materials.
Through the realization of massive investments made by a number of companies, the government is optimistic that the target for increasing the capacity of the national steel industry can reach 11.9 million tons. This is also supported by the 10 Million Ton Steel Cluster Project in Cilegon - Banten which is expected to bring a multiplier effect, not only in terms of labor, but also tax revenue, and contribution to national GDP.
GRP exports structural steel to Casa Grande, Arizona-United States. Precisely to the electric car industry company, Lucid Motors. On this occasion, the Minister of Industry released the export of 700 MT structural beam products worth USD 1 million. (LM)