ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – Who is celebrating and enjoying the most benefits from downstream nickel in Indonesia?
“80-90 percent of China is the main consumer,” said Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) Bhima Yudhistira at the launch of the study ‘Reflections on Nickel Downstream Policy: Impact on the Economy and Public Health’, in the Central Jakarta area, Tuesday, February 20, 2024.
According to Bhima, claims by a number of parties in Indonesia that downstream nickel will provide good benefits for Indonesia are not entirely true.
Bhima said that this happened because China was the player in this industry. Worse, many Chinese companies do not use ISG.
“Yes, China does have its own standards, many do not use ISG. However, in reality there are also many Chinese companies that do not properly implement the standards created by China,” he explained.
Bhima then explained CELIOS’ findings regarding the amount of Indonesian labor absorption from downstream nickel.
“In the first year alone, our findings showed negative results on the labor absorption indicator, the exact figure was -1,309 people,” he stressed.
What about labor absorption at the three nickel smelter locations, namely in Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and North Maluku?
Labor absorption in Central Sulawesi showed -4,429 in the first year. Then, Southeast Sulawesi (-2,733) and North Maluku (3,205).
“This means that nickel downstreaming was completely unable to absorb labor even at the beginning of the implementation year,” stressed Bhima.
Bhima also explained that with the downstreaming of nickel, he assessed that the agricultural sector experienced the deepest decline followed by other sectors in the ninth year of the existence of the nickel industry in North Maluku.
“Deforestation accompanied by a decrease in the quality of clean water and air has an impact on the total output of the nickel industry,” he explained.
Apart from all that, it cannot be denied that the Indonesian economy will skyrocket with this nickel downstreaming. CELIOS records show that in the first year the multiplier economic impact of nickel downstream reached IDR 19.03 trillion.
Then, in the fifth year the figure skyrocketed to IDR 62.83 trillion. Likewise, gross domestic product shows a positive trend.
In the first year, it is estimated that the gross domestic product reached IDR 18.95 trillion and in the fifth year it reached IDR 62.6 trillion. (ATN)
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