Affected By Weakening Of Rupiah, Bauxite Entrepreneurs Say This

Illustration (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

The weakening of the rupiah exchange rate against the United States (US) dollar also has an impact on the mining business, especially bauxite.

Just so you know, bauxite is one of the commodities prohibited by the government's exports.

Acting Chairman of the Indonesian Beauxite and Iron Workers Association (APB3I) Ronald Sulistyanto said the weakening of the rupiah would have a significant impact on the continuity of mining activities, especially bauxite in Indonesia.

"But there is also another side, namely positive and negative. Positively, if we sell it, it means that we can export, of course, we will get quite good results because it uses dollars. But the components that drive activities in mining also use the dollar component, so we will definitely experience the result of strengthening the dollar," he said in the Mining Zone quoted on Tuesday, July 2.

Ronald said that the production of bauxite mining is actually almost the same as other eprtambangan because there is a dollar component included in the calculation of costs for each ton using a US dollar benchmark.

With this dollar strengthening, it is said that it has an influence on the value of bauxite production.

Meanwhile, in the difference between bauxite and other commodities, he continued, other commodities are allowed to export, while for the bauxite commodity, exports have not yet been allowed.

"So the bauxite entrepreneur will receive this impact very hard because we all bring in equipment and other supporting activities from abroad," explained Ronald.

Ronald also said that the export ban and the difficulty of production activities due to the weakening of the rupiah are a burden in the prospect of future mining as long as the government does not issue new policies for bauxite entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, he said, the strategy that will be carried out by bauxite entrepreneurs in the midst of weakening the rupiah is to make efficiency.

"What we make a benchmark for is RKAB. Moreover, RKAB is currently 3 years old, so we have to think that RKAB for 3 years can run according to the circumstances we are facing," concluded Ronald.