The country’s metal industry needs to improve in order to maximize the full potential of mining resources and, therefore, the government must introduce an integrated policy on the issue, a mining association has said.

Djoko Widajatno, the executive director of the Indonesia Mining Association (IMA), said the nation’s metal industry had to improve to help absorb processed minerals.

“We’re waiting for the government to boost the metal industry [to get the full benefits of downstream efforts] after we have turned raw materials into half-processed minerals,” he said.  

The IMA, the members of which contribute around 70 percent to the country’s mining nontax revenue, believes that the minerals will have the most value only after the commodities are processed further in the metal industry. 

There are at least two examples of metal-based products the materials of which, the IMA claimed, are still imported because of a lack of local industry, namely metal syringes and cars. 

Djoko’s statement was in line with Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry data, which underlines “the smelter’s products have yet to be absorbed fully by the downstream industry”. 

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