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SOEs full speed ahead toward African shores
The country's SOEs are setting course for Africa in expanding their exports to boost the Indonesian economy.
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Bio Farma president director M. Rahman Roestan (center) points to boxes containing vaccine products at the company’s warehouse in Bandung, West Java, in this file photo. (Antara/M. Agung Rajasa)
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tate-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the train manufacturing, construction and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors are striving to expand exports to nontraditional markets, especially to African countries.
"President Joko Widodo has instructed [SOEs Minister] Erick Thohir to encourage our BUMN to expand their global markets," said ministerial aide Arya Sinulingga on Tuesday at the “BUMN Going Global“ seminar in Jakarta, referring to SOE by its Indonesian abbreviation.
The government is encouraging SOEs to focus more on exporting to nontraditional markets while maintaining exports to their traditional markets – China, the United States and European countries.
Speaking at the same event, president director Budi Noviantoro of PT Inka said that export expansion was inevitable for the state-owned train manufacturer, because domestic demand for trains was extremely limited.
He added that Inka was shipping two train cars to the Philippines on Tuesday morning to fulfill its export plan for the year.
Budi had said earlier that Inka targeted export earnings of Rp 3.75 trillion (US$267 million) this year.
Toward this end, Inka is building Indonesia's largest train manufacturing factory in Banyuwangi, East Java, in cooperation with Stadler Rail, the renowned Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock. The planned factory is to have a production capacity of four train cars per day – four times the capacity of Inka’s factory in Madiun, also in East Java.
