Indoferro to soon complete second nickel smelter

PT Indonferro expects construction of its second nickel pig iron (NPI) smelter in Cilegon, Banten, to be completed in March of this year, a slight delay from the original target of February, Kontan reported on Tuesday.

The paper quoted Indoferro Director Jonatan Handjojo as saying that construction progress has reached 95 percent. ?It?s almost completed,? he said.

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. (*)