Indonesia's bauxite export ban may affect CITA's 2023 performance

PT Cita Mineral Investindo Tbk (CITA), one of the largest Bauxite Mining Groups in Indonesia and a producer of Smelter Grade Alumina (SGA) in Indonesia, managed to record positive performance in 2022 by recording a net profit of IDR 744.82 billion, an upswing of 31 per cent y-o-y.

On June 28, 2023, Harry Kesuma Tanoto, the President Director in Jakarta, said, "The most significant contributor to this increase came from the absorption of profits from its associate entity PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery, an associated entity."

The management of CITA also stated that the Company's performance is expected to have an impact in 2023 due to the ban on bauxite exports recently announced by the Indonesian Government.

The ban, which became effective on June 10 2023, as stipulated in an effort to encourage downstream metal minerals in the country. This policy is in line with Minerba Law No. 4 of 2009, as amended by Minerba Law No. 3 of 2020, but it is undeniable that many parties will be affected by this prohibition.

"This export ban will likely make our performance decline in 2023, but we are still optimistic that we can survive through our support and supply to WHW," said Harry.

If there are no other regulatory changes, it is predicted that this performance reduction will last until 2024, when the company's income will represent all of its sales to satisfy domestic Metallurgical Grade Bauxite (MGB) needs. The firm is confident in its ability to survive. It anticipates that by expanding WHW's capacity, it will start producing smelter-grade alumina at a rate of up to 2 million tonnes annually starting in 2022. The supplier will improve PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery's bauxite supply of metallurgical grade.