The Amonium Nitrat Factory Worth IDR 1.2 Trillion Operates, Erick Thohir: Reduces 21 Percent Of Imports

SOE Minister Erick Thohir (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir said the nitrate amonium factory, PT Kaltim Amonium Nitrat (KAN) which has a capacity of 75,000 metric tons per year (MTPY), will thereby reduce the import of mononium nitrate by 21 percent.

As is known, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has just inaugurated an amonium nitrate factory, PT KAN in the East Kalimantan Industrial Estate (KIE) area, Bontang, East Kalimantan today.

The factory with an investment value of IDR 1.2 trillion is a joint project of a subsidiary of PT DAHANA, PT Dahana Investama Corp (PT DIC), with PT Pupuk Kaltim collaborating with Wika-Sedin.

Currently, Erick said, Indonesia still has to import 21 LERsen of nitrate amonium from national needs or around 120,000 tons.

Dan 79 persen (sekitar 460,000 ton) sudah produksi dalam negeri. Dari total (kebutuhan dalam negeri) sebesar 580,000 ton. Dengan kapasitas produksi pabrik ini sebesar 75,000 ton, tentu akan mengurangi yang 21 persen (kebutuhan impor) itu, ujar Erick dalam keterangan resmi, Kamis, 29 Februari.

Furthermore, Erick said the products produced from this factory will be used to strengthen the Defense industry and the fertilizer industry.

Therefore, said Erick, he gave input to President Jokowi to take advantage of the opportunity for a working visit to Australia in the future to encourage the acquisition of facilities that produce formulanium nitrate raw materials.

According to Erick, this is needed to support the need for subsidized fertilizer products which are set to increase from 4.7 million tons to 9.5 million tons.

"In the future, we will improve our supply chain, hopefully later on your way to Australia, Mr. President can encourage our acquisition in several countries for Phospat, which is in Australia and Canada, we need to accelerate. Because indeed with us increasing the volume of subsidized fertilizers from 4.7 million tons to 9.5 million tons, we will definitely need more definite raw materials in the future," said Erick.