Ceritalah | This era of Trumpian trade wars may be a blessing for Indonesian industry
- Competition from China and the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ pose existential questions for Indonesian industry
- Trade wars, on the other hand, could be beneficial, as Indonesia may be buoyed by its huge domestic market
While industry can transform lives, create jobs and churn out vital products, we are becoming increasingly aware of the pollution and destruction it leaves in its wake.
Moreover technological and digital innovation could easily decimate what we once considered to be immutable and enduring industries.
Indonesia’s Cilegon region, 100km west of Jakarta, is one of Southeast Asia’s largest industrial hubs – comparable to Malaysia’s Southern Johor, Vietnam’s Vung Tau, Singapore’s Jurong and Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (centred principally around Rayong province).
Krakatoa-Posco’s rust-red blast furnace – located in Cilegon – is as tall as a 10-storey building. It towers over a dusty, dystopian landscape of foundries and mills. There is a constant, low hum and a procession of huge transporters, as the gargantuan structure spews out some 8,300 tons of molten steel every day.
Blast furnaces lie at the heart of manufacturing. First developed by the Chinese during the Han dynasty and later modified by the Persians, the Swedes and the English, the process has grown increasingly sophisticated. However, at its core, it is basically the transformation of iron ore into pig iron and steel using metallurgical coke, lime and literal blasts of air or oxygen.