Development of Indonesia's bauxite downstream industry stagnates

The construction of bauxite smelting projects in Indonesia has been difficult, and although the downstream program is in place, only three smelters have been built in 10 years, and seven are still stalled.The hindrance is the lack of investors who are serious about operating projects, with no IUPK holders successfully building smelters so far in 2014, except for PT Aneka Tambang and PT Bauxite Alumina Indonesia. The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources has said he wants to improve the stagnant downstream bauxite industry. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has recorded that there are seven beneficiation facilities or bauxite smelters with construction progress exceeding 50% without meeting site conditions. Currently there are four smelters in operation in Indonesia, and APB3I points out that banks and financial institutions often assess bauxite smelting projects as having low feasibility, making it difficult to obtain external funding. Indonesia's annual bauxite production can reach 30 million tons, but the domestic processing and refining capacity is limited.