Antara News are reporting that Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, believes that Indonesia will become one of the top three producers of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in the world by 2027 in comments he made during the 2023 National Coordination Meeting of Regional Heads that was monitored online from Jakarta, Tuesday.
Luhut’s conviction was also underlined by the signing of a cooperation agreement for the development of the EV battery ecosystem between State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) MIND ID Holding and EV battery manufacturers from China, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited (CATL) on Monday, report Antara News.
“We are ready to enter a new era of building a lithium battery ecosystem and also an EV car. If everything goes according to plan, we will be able to produce the first lithium battery in 2025,” the Minister announced. He said Indonesia’s export performance was immediately increased by the downstream industry that was being boosted by the government. He noted that Indonesia’s exports of nickel derivatives rose significantly, from around USD 8.1-billion to USD 33.8-billion in 2022.
“Our exports have increased very well this year, nearly USD 11-billion, from the increase in the downstream industry or the downstreaming of only nickel ore. Hence, when we are ready to export lithium batteries, I think the figure will be far bigger,” he remarked.
He projected a two-fold increase in the exports of nickel derivatives if the downstream plan to the electric battery industry ecosystem can proceed in the next four to five years.
Earlier, Bahlil Lahadalia, Indonesia’s Minister of Investment and Head of BKPM, stated that the Initial Signing Conditional Share Purchase Agreement (CSPA) and Shareholders Agreement (SHA) had been carried out between Antam, a member of MIND ID, and CBL, which is a subsidiary of CATL, on Monday, January 16.
The follow-up progress of this cooperation is in the context of forming a consortium joint venture to develop the EV ecosystem, from upstream to downstream, as part of the green economy transformation program in Indonesia, say Antara News.
“We hope that after the signing of the CSPA, we can push for the downstream commitment agreement process for activities, such as smelters, precursors, cathodes, battery cells, and recycle,” Lahadalia stated.
Source: Antara News
