Face Invasion of Import, Government Asks Steel Entrepreneurs Can Compete

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution asked entrepreneurs to compete with foreign products even though the domestic market continues to be flooded with steel and aluminum supplies from imports.

This is in response to the US import tariff plan that makes steel and aluminum products from China to penetrate the Indonesian market.

"With the enforcement, Indonesia will definitely be affected, China and Germany will definitely look for other export markets, this is a challenge and a rival for our steel industry," said Darmin in Jakarta (7/3/2018).

Darmin believes that private steel and aluminum companies and state-owned companies can compete if they reflect on positive performance in recent years.

From World Steel Association data, China's steel production last year reached 831.7 million metric tons or the largest in the world. While below it is European steel production of 168.7 million metric tons.

US steel production alone reached only 81.6 million tons. While the production of Indonesia only reached 4.8 million metric tons.

Different opportunity, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto said, the policy of US protectionism will also affect the domestic iron and steel market. Therefore, he said the state must prepare itself through safeguard rules.

"The impact is that the usual products entering the US will be looking for new markets, one of them from China, which sees Indonesia as a new market, as Indonesia has to prepare, one of them (via) safeguards," he said.

When asked about the safeguards readiness, he said, the Ministry of Industry has coordinated with the Ministry of Trade to conduct monitoring of steel imports. "

This is done so that the domestic industry is not disturbed in the future, "he said.