Industrial Confidence Index Declines in March
The Ministry of Industry recorded that the Industrial Confidence Index (IKI) in March 2026 declined by 2.16 points to 51.6. “In addition, the IKI also slowed by 1.12 points compared to the IKI in March last year, which was 52.98,” said the Ministry of Industry spokesperson Febri Hendri Antoni Arief in Jakarta on Tuesday, 31 March 2026.
Febri stated that the decline in industrial performance in the third month occurred due to a combination of several factors. Primarily, seasonal factors following the passing of several major religious holidays such as Chinese New Year and Eid al-Fitr. This situation led industries to reduce production.
Based on information from the industry, Febri said that several entrepreneurs chose to reduce production due to abundant stock in warehouses that had not yet been distributed to distributors or the market. The stockpile occurred because of vehicle logistics restrictions for 16 days before and after Eid al-Fitr.
In addition, the production decline in March happened because several industries experienced a surge in January and February. “Thus, in March, they reduced production and continued to maintain stock in warehouses until Eid al-Fitr,” said Febri.
Febri stated that the energy crisis due to the escalation in the Middle East has not yet had a significant impact on the entire industry. He said that the impact from the conflict between America-Israel against Iran is still limited to certain industries. Primarily, sectors that still depend on raw materials from the Middle East, such as petrochemicals.
Of the 23 processing industry subsectors, Febri noted that 16 subsectors expanded while the other 17 contracted. Febri said that the subsectors experiencing expansion contributed 78.3 percent to the gross domestic product or GDP.
The highest subsectors were printing, reproduction of recorded media, namely industries that produce downstream industrial product packaging. Then the motor vehicle industry, trailers, and semi-trailers.
Meanwhile, the industries that contracted were beverages, tobacco processing, wood, wood products and cork, chemicals and chemical products, up to the computer industry.
The Ministry of Industry also recorded a slowdown in the performance of export-oriented and domestic industries. The performance of the export industry in March 2026 was recorded at 52.73, or slowed by 1.88 points compared to February 2026.
The same thing happened to industrial companies oriented towards the domestic market, whose performance was recorded at 50.44, or slowed by 2.68 points monthly.