Downstream Investment Achieves Rp 147.5 Trillion, IMA Pushes for Strengthening the Manufacturing Sector

The Ministry of Investment and Downstreaming/BKPM reports that the realisation of downstream investment in the first quarter of 2026 reached Rp 147.5 trillion. This figure represents 29.6% of the total national investment realisation. This achievement also serves as a positive signal for the resilience of the domestic economic structure amid global dynamics. In response to this, Secretary General of the Indonesian Mining Association (IMA) Tony Wenas provided strategic notes regarding the future direction of industrialisation policy. He emphasised that the upstream mining industry has fulfilled its value-added obligations in accordance with regulations. Therefore, the policy focus must now shift to strengthening the manufacturing sector as the main off-taker. According to Tony, the current crucial challenge is no longer the basic refining process, but rather the creation of a deeper industrial ecosystem to process intermediate products into finished goods with higher economic value. “Now, almost all products are downstream products. Our national homework is to go even further downstream from that. So, what will be made from nickel steel slabs? That’s not the export target, right,” said Tony. He revealed the characteristics that distinguish between the roles of the mining and manufacturing sectors in the supply chain. Tony exemplified that further processing from copper cathodes into products like wire rods to copper foil is the domain of advanced processing industries, whose growth must be massively accelerated to strengthen the domestic industrial structure. “That’s not a mining company, that’s manufacturing. For example, our copper is already 99.99%, but what this country needs is wire rods, copper foil as we discussed, or whatever industry that must grow,” he stated.