Indonesia's Steel Import Surpasses 14% in 2023

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chairman of the Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA) and the President Director of PT Krakatau Steel Purwono Widodo revealed that Indonesia's steel demand saw a surge in 2023.

"[In 2023] the consumption reached 17.9 million tonnes, an increase of 5 percent compared to 2022," he said in Jakarta today. With that amount of consumption, Purwono said, Indonesia can produce 14.4 million tonnes of steel this year.

"The import is increasing by 14 percent for all steel products of HS 72," he said. However, this type of import is typically conducted by other companies, since PT Krakatau Steel usually imports the raw material.

Citing the official website of IISIA, the volume of steel imports in Indonesia during the 2018 to 2022 periods fluctuated, as influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, the import volume steadily increased, reaching 19 million tonnes in 2019. The number decreased sharply in 2022 to 14.1 million tonnes before rising back in 2021 and 2022 to 15.6 million tonnes and 16.8 million tonnes respectively.

Continuing the upward trend of imports during the 2020-2022 period, the import volume in the first quarter of 2023 increased compared to the same period in 2022, with a 7.7 percent increase or 3.8 million tonnes in equivalent.

Despite the rising volume of imports, Statistics Indonesia reported that the import value showed a 22 percent decrease from US$4.045 million in 2022 to US$3.154 million in the first quarter of 2023. 

DEFANYA DHANYA PARAMITHA

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