Source: Antaranews.com | May 21, 2025

The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) stated that it continues to strive for domestically made steel products to be optimally absorbed in the domestic market.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry Eko Cahyanto at the Iron Steel Summit and Exhibition 2025 in Jakarta, Wednesday, said that currently many similar products from China and Vietnam are sold at cheaper prices domestically.

“Today we are still flooded with similar products from China, from Vietnam. If we pay attention, the goods are produced there, brought to the port, brought back here, but why are their prices still cheaper,” he said.

Therefore, his party is pushing for a grand strategy to be developed to encourage increased competitiveness of the domestic steel industry.

Eko said that his party is committed to maintaining the climate of the domestic industry to continue to grow, so that the gaps in the steel industry tree can be filled.

“There needs to be an effort to increase its competitiveness. In terms of quality and technology, our steel industry is already capable,” he also said.

Furthermore, he said, there are four main issues related to sustainability in the steel industry, namely decarbonization, circular economy, energy efficiency, and global excess capacity.

Eko explained that the national steel industry contributes around 4.66 percent of total emissions, so decarbonization requires significant changes from conventional methods.

However, currently there is a positive trend towards the use of production technology that produces less carbon.

Globally, the steel industry faces an overcapacity of around 625 million metric tons, but most of the products produced come from China.

This oversupply creates price pressure and hinders investment in environmentally friendly technologies.

The base metal industry continues to consistently show brilliant performance, as seen from its highest growth compared to other sectors, reaching 18.07 percent in the first semester of 2024. This growth is driven by high domestic and foreign demand. Base metal commodities also experienced a fairly high increase in export volume, reaching 25.2 percent for iron and steel base metals, and 24.29 percent for metal castings.