Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) recorded 157 investment project worth Rp6.63 trillion under construction.
The projects started in the first half of the year, provided 8,502 new jobs, BKPM chief Franky Sibarani said here on Tuesday.
Franky said the brisk development in the first half of the year, gave him optimism that the country's steel industry would grow stronger in the future.
"This week I attended two functions related to implementation of projects in steel industry. I believe this is a positive signal for development of steel industry in the country," he said.
The process of construction in steel industry will take two to three years , he said.
He said the expansion of the steel industry would contribute to redressing the country's foreign trade in the sector.
He said he had seen indications of improvement in the steel trade balance with steel imports declining 21.04 percent to US$3.44 billion in the January-June from US$4.36 billion in the same period last year.
On the contrary, the country's exports rose to US$657.7 million in the first half of this year from only US$462.6 million year-on-year, he said.
Steel imports made up 5.66 percent of the country's exports of commodities outside oil and gas in value, he said.
"The revival of the country's steel industry marked by the increase in investment is expected to result significantly in cutting dependence on imports of the material in the future," he said.
He said among 54 investment projects in the process of construction and being monitored by BKPM, there are steel factories potential to reduce imports by US$343.2 million a year after they are operational in 2016.
He said the country's steel requirement would grow from year to year and in 2020, the requirement is predicted to reach 27 million tons , up from an estimated 16 million tons in 2015.
He said cooperation between China Steel Corp (CSC) of Taiwan and Artha Metal Sinergi inaugurated in Jakarta on Tuesday also marked progress in the development of the country's steel industry.
Based on data reported to BKPM , the two partners would build a steel factory to cost US$500 million with an annual production capacity of 1 million tons.
Construction of the steel mill to produce construction steel would start in the middle of next year. The project would be the first phase of cooperation between the two companies.
In the second phase of the cooperation in 2020, the two companies plan to build a factory in the upstream steel sector with an annual production capacity of 5 million tons that could be increased to 10 million tons. (WDY)
