Prabowo: Halt Raw Material Exports, It's Time for Downstreaming

President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto has emphasised that industrial downstreaming is the key to creating quality jobs in Indonesia. The government is promoting economic transformation through strengthening resource-based industrialisation.

Prabowo stated that the government’s current focus is no longer merely on development, but on national economic transformation to increase value addition domestically.

“This is exactly what I am doing. That’s why when I ran for President, I no longer talked about nation-building; I talked about nation transformation,” said Prabowo during the ‘President Prabowo Answers’ event with journalists and experts, which aired on Thursday (19/3/2026).

Prabowo assessed that Indonesia has experienced deindustrialisation because natural resources have been largely exported in raw form without processing.

“I want downstreaming. That’s the only way. We must no longer export raw materials. We have to process those raw materials into high-value industrial derivative products,” said Prabowo.

Prabowo stated that downstreaming will open up quality job opportunities, especially for the younger generation in the industrial and technology sectors.

“We have bauxite. Bauxite is processed into alumina to become aluminium. Aluminium becomes cars. But we don’t process bauxite. Japan doesn’t have bauxite, but it makes the best cars. Right? This is what we have to do,” said Prabowo.

Prabowo explained that the industrial development strategy is carried out through the industrial tree concept, which includes developing hundreds of factories for various commodities.

“We must build hundreds of factories. That’s what we call the industrial tree. We have already mapped it out. We have a plan actually. Industrial tree for all important commodities that we have,” said Prabowo.

Prabowo also highlighted the potential of coconut commodities, which he considers underutilised despite their high economic value.

“Coconuts alone are considered a miracle crop. Virgin Coconut Oil is considered anti-cancer. But we only have one or two coconut factories. So far, we export whole coconuts,” said Prabowo.

In addition, Prabowo mentioned high-quality coffee and cocoa commodities, but their processed products are still largely imported.

“We have the best coffee, the best chocolate, but we import Starbucks, Nestle, Nescafe. We have the best chocolate, but we import KitKat, we eat Cadbury. Right? This is what we have to do,” said Prabowo.

Prabowo emphasised that industrialisation based on downstreaming is the main step to create quality jobs and strengthen the national economy. “So this is actually the answer: industrialisation,” said Prabowo.