(Lianhe Zaobao Jakarta comprehensive news) Indonesian President Joko is attending the commissioning ceremony of the ferronickel smelting plant of Chinese enterprises in central Sulawesi province. China has also participated in the construction of the metal smelting industrial park in North Kalimantan.

This shows that China is strengthening its investment in Indonesia's metal smelting and related manufacturing industries, and Indonesia is taking this opportunity to improve its position of resources in the global value chain and is unwilling to continue to play the role of raw material supplier.

According to China News Agency, Zoke attended the commissioning ceremony of "judun ferronickel smelting plant" invested and built by Jiangsu Delong nickel Co., Ltd. with a total investment of 11 billion yuan (about 2.34 billion Singapore dollars) in Delong Industrial Park in North morowali County, central Sulawesi province.

Zoke: the added value of nickel ore processed into ferronickel will be increased by 14 times

The smelter plans to build a ferronickel production line with an annual output of 1.8 million tons, and will build auxiliary facilities such as a power plant and a wharf. According to a government statement, the plant can process 13 million metric tons of nickel ore each year. According to Reuters, the whole project costs about US $2.7 billion (about S $3.66 billion).

In his speech at the commissioning ceremony, Joko said that "judun ferronickel smelter" has greatly increased the added value of Indonesia's nickel industry. He said that if nickel ore is processed into Ferronickel, the added value will increase 14 times. If it is processed into stainless steel, the added value will increase 19 times.

He said that Indonesia could only export nickel ore, but the investment of many Chinese enterprises such as Jiangsu Delong made Indonesia's stainless steel exports reach US $20.8 billion in 2021. He believed that this was a "great leap" in Indonesia's economy.

Zoke also greatly appreciated the 27000 local employment opportunities brought by the project. He asked the local provincial and county governments to create a safe and sound investment environment for investors, because the project will also provide entrepreneurial opportunities for small, medium and micro enterprises, thus stimulating local economic development.

He reiterated that Indonesia will take similar measures to attract investors to other metal processing fields, including banning the export of bauxite by the end of next year. Bauxite, also known as bauxite or bauxite, is the main raw material for extracting aluminum.

Indonesia is rich in various mineral resources, and is also one of the world's major producers of nickel and other minerals. However, for decades, it has only exported metal smelting raw materials such as ores with low added value. After his successful re-election in 2019, zoco announced the ban on the export of nickel ore the following year, hoping to encourage foreign companies to invest in local smelters and develop relevant manufacturing industries, increase the added value of mineral products exports, promote the development of middle and downstream industries of mineral products processing, and create more local employment opportunities.

Zoco also opened a 30000 hectare metal smelting industrial park in North Kalimantan province through video. Enterprises from China, Australia and the United Arab Emirates will participate in this investment. The factory in the park will produce semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries, solar panels and aluminum products.