TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The President Director of PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), Melati Sarnita, has urged the government to improve import regulations to increase the absorption of domestic aluminium products. This is because the export of processed aluminium products is at risk of decreasing by around 30,000 tons if the export tariff of aluminium to the United States increases.
On May 30, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to increase the import tariffs on steel and aluminium from 25 percent to 50 percent. As quoted by Antara, Trump did this to protect America's domestic industry.
According to Sarnita, the effect of Trump's import tariffs on the sales of aluminium ingots will not have a direct impact. The impact will be felt by downstream aluminium product industries, both domestically and Inalum's trading partners abroad.
"Because Inalum has been producing semi-finished products, which are then purchased by the domestic industry to be made into finished products," she said at a working meeting with the House of Commission XII on Wednesday, July 16, 2025.
Sarnita stated that the potential loss can be avoided if the domestic demand for aluminium ingots increases. Based on company records, approximately 30,000 tons of processed aluminium products that rely on raw material supplies from Inalum are exported to the United States.
"So, we hope that the promotion of import regulations will help downstream producers to find alternative markets domestically that are comparable to the potential loss due to Trump's tariffs," she said.
Sarnita added that Inalum currently exports more than 50 percent of raw aluminium. While domestic absorption, she continued, is only about 48 percent.
According to her, there must be an industry, from upstream to downstream, to boost domestic demand. She predicts that demand for aluminium will increase by up to 600 percent in the next 30 years due to the growing use of solar panels that rely on aluminium.
"In the future, there must be a more value-added and integrated aluminium supply chain," she said.
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