"I think after stopping raw material exports, our export values will increase. I have given this an emphasis since long," the minister said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Rini said that the mining sector has great potential to process mining materials into derivative products that have higher sales value.
"We must be able to process mining products with high added values. This is our weakness, we do not carry on advanced exports," said Rini.
She mentioned bauxite as an example. The end product of bauxite is aluminum, nickel or stainless goods. Coal can become methanol, according to Rini.
However we are importing downstream products from mining, even though we have raw materials," Rini said.
Actually, the roadmap has been there for a long time from the Ministry of Industry, but the better the plan is made, the more difficult it is to implement.
The problem of funds and technology has always been a major obstacle for the plan to increase exports of downstream mining products, even though according to her, if it is achieved, it will save on import costs and be able to get more values from the export of mining derivatives.
Meanwhile, Inalum`s (state-owned aluminum firm) Managing Director Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the planning of processing downstream mining products for exports had not yet been done well because the technology still did not meet the criteria.
Technology is still a big barrier, followed by funds which also become a big problem," he said.
Reporting by Afut Syafril Mursyirwan
Editing by Andi Abdussalam
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Suharto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
