Chile's Elecmetal lands in ID
- Elecmetal, a Chilean metals company, announced it is opening its first Southeast Asian manufacturing plant in Indonesia. - The firm presented the expansion as the company’s initial factory footprint in the region. - Such inbound industrial FDI signals ongoing interest in building local manufacturing capacity and anchoring regional supply chains (x.com).
Chile’s Elecmetal has opened a grinding-ball plant in Central Java, giving the company its first manufacturing base in Southeast Asia. (batangkab.go.id) The facility began operations on April 15, 2026, in the Batang Industropolis Special Economic Zone, known as KITB, in Batang Regency. Local officials said the project is the first Latin American investment in the estate. (batangkab.go.id) Elecmetal Longteng Indonesia is a joint venture between Chile’s ME Elecmetal and China’s Longteng Special Steel, and Indonesian media reported investment figures ranging from about $40 million to $50 million. The plant sits on 4.99 hectares and makes steel grinding balls used by mines to crush ore into finer material. (jakartaglobe.id) (semarang.bisnis.com) (industropolisbatang.co.id) For Elecmetal, the Indonesia site extends a manufacturing network that already includes plants in Chile, the United States, China, Peru, South Africa and Zambia. The company said in its 2024 annual report that it was also developing new plants in Indonesia and Kazakhstan. (usa.me-elecmetal.com) For Indonesia, the opening adds another tenant to Batang’s state-backed industrial zone, which has been pitched as a hub for export manufacturing and downstream processing. The Batang estate said Elecmetal’s project moved from agreement in August 2024 to construction in February 2025 and operations within 15 months. (pantura.suaramerdeka.com) The plant also ties Chilean capital to Chinese steelmaking and Indonesian industrial policy in one project. Jakarta Globe reported last year that the venture was aimed at serving Indonesia’s mining sector and export markets from Java. (jakartaglobe.id) Elecmetal’s core business is mining wear parts: mill liners that protect grinding equipment and steel media that help break rock inside giant rotating mills. Its investor materials describe the company as a global supplier to large-scale mining operations. (me-elecmetal.com) (int.me-elecmetal.com) The Indonesia launch gives Elecmetal a factory closer to Asian mining customers and a foothold in a region where it previously had no plant. That makes Batang both a local production site and Elecmetal’s new Southeast Asian address. (batangkab.go.id) (usa.me-elecmetal.com)
