Indoferro hopes to start operation of second NPI smelter by year-end
Tuesday, June 7 2016 - 03:56 AM WIB
PT Indoferro hopes to be able to start operation of its second nickel pig iron smelter in Cilegon, Banten, by the end of this year, a delay from an earlier plan of March.
?We?ll push for it to be already in operation by the end of the year,? said Jonatan Handojo, Business Development Director of Growth Steel Group, the parent of Indoferro, to Petromindo.com recently.
He said that the smelter project has suffered delays due to regulatory obstacle in the hiring of foreign workers. He did not elaborate.
As has been previously reported, Indoferro has assigned Maanshan Maishirdi Engineering Consulting Co Ltd (MMC) as the contractor for the construction of the second unit smelter, with annual production capacity of 250,000 tons. Once completed, Indoferro will have combined NPI production capacity 500,000 tons per year.
The output will be entirely exported to China, India South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey amid lack of domestic demand for the stainless steel production material.
Aside from NPI, the company also produces pig iron, which is supplied for steel production by its parent Growth Steel Group in North Sumatra.
Indoferro also plans to start limited production of slag cement in August of this year as part of diversification to help cope with the current drop in nickel price.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak