The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) assesses that industrial activity has begun to revive at this time after being hit by the pandemic since last year.

Ministry of Industry data shows industry utilization over the past year was at the level of 61.10 percent, down from the last period before the pandemic which was 76.30 percent. On a monthly basis, the first three months of this year the utilization rate was also able to keep going.

Inspector General of the Ministry of Industry, Masrokhan, said that as of March 2020, the industry utilization rate was at the level of 61.30 percent with three industries having recorded levels above 70 percent. The three of them are the beverage industry, chemical and chemical goods, and textiles.

This is also in line with the manufacturing index or Purchasing Manufacturs Index (PMI), which is at an expansion level of 53.2 in March 2021, which is the highest figure in a decade.

"Currently the industry is starting to stretch so that the momentum of industrial recovery must be guarded and not lost," he said.

Masrokhan said that the government itself has launched a 35 percent import substitution program next year. This strategic step is to increase productivity and industrial competitiveness in the country so as to encourage efforts to restore the national economy.

The import substitution value is targeted at IDR 152.8 trillion or 35 percent of the 2019 import potential which reaches IDR 434 trillion.

Masrokhan said the efforts that the Ministry of Industry would undertake to accelerate the decline in imports were at the same time a step to increase utilization in the industrial sector.

One of them is the implementation of the Program to Increase the Use of Domestic Products (P3DN). The program is considered to be able to provide opportunities for industries in Indonesia to grow.

"Moreover, the potential of the APBN reaches Rp. 607 trillion, which consists of Rp. 357.4 trillion in Goods Expenditures and Rp. 250.3 trillion Capital Expenditures. Since the P3DN National Team was launched in 2018, the Ministry of Industry has issued TKDN certificates for more than 10,000 products. of this acceleration, "he said.

Another policy that can be leveraged is the decline in industrial gas prices. In 2020, 176 companies from these seven sectors will receive this facility.

With this facilitation, several companies began planning to update their technology in order to make more efficient use of natural gas.

In addition, regarding the implementation of the industrial gas price policy, western Java has been covered 100 percent, while eastern Java is only 82 percent. Meanwhile, in the northern part of Sumatra and Sumatra, it is around 20-30 percent.

"We target that sectors receiving this gas price reduction policy can increase and their coverage will increase," he said.

On the other hand, Masrokhan conveyed that industrial downstream efforts were also pursued through the development of smelter industries, such as nickel smelters, nickel cobalt, aluminum, copper and steel.

Currently, in total Indonesia already has 30 smelters in operation, while the construction stage is around 20 smelters, and in the feasibility study stage there are nine smelters.

The implications of this policy include the basic metal industry sector in 2020 to grow 5.87 percent, exports to grow up to 30 percent and contribute to foreign exchange of US $ 22 billion.

"Therefore, this year we will continue the positive trend. Moreover, this industrial downstream plan will also strengthen Indonesia's position as a battery producer for electric vehicles," he said.

The next policy, the Ministry of Industry continues to be actively involved in the Proud Indonesia program. The benefits include creating added value for the small and medium industrial sector (IKM), increasing demand for IKM products, and increasing the number of on-boarding SMIs.

"In May 2021, the Ministry of Industry will also launch the Joglosemar Festival, which will feature the best IKM players from the Yogyakarta, Solo and Semarang areas. The event will be filled with webinars, technical guidance and training for IKM, "said Masrokhan.