BRICS Cooperation and Mineral Downstreaming

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Copper Downstreaming Needs to Be Taken Seriously

Indonesia needs to initiate a copper mineral raw material downstreaming program, following the imposition of tariffs of up to 50% by President Donald Trump's administration. Djoko Widajatno, Executive Vice Director of the Indonesia Mining Association (IMA), emphasized that the development of a copper-based industry needs to be realized immediately.

Such as making the tools needed to move towards independence, starting from the food security industry, to high end Industry. “From health to equipment for modern warfare,” said Djoko.

According to him, concentrate export levies are not just taxes, but a policy tool for:

Forcing the realization of copper downstreaming
Reducing dependence on raw exports
Increasing domestic added value

However, he admitted that for miners, this could be a short-term burden if it is not accompanied by downstream readiness or other technical policy flexibility.

Export data from Satudata Kemendag shows that from January to April 2024, Indonesia exported copper ore worth US$2.26 billion and copper products and derivatives worth US$781 million.

According to Association data, throughout 2022-2023, 97% of copper ore exports flowed to Asia, with Japan being the main destination country with 760 thousand tons, China (680 thousand tons) and Korea (530 thousand tons). The remainder of copper ore exports flowed to Taiwan, India, Malaysia and Europe.

Indonesia-Brazil Agree on Energy Cooperation to Food Security

While attending the BRICS 2025 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, President Prabowo Subianto also made a state visit to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, on Monday, July 7, 2025.

President Prabowo held a bilateral meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the Presidential Palace, Brazil. The meeting agenda focused on strengthening strategic partnerships and exploring potential new collaborations in various fields between Indonesia and Brazil.

The Indonesian and Brazilian governments agreed on a number of strategic steps to strengthen cooperation in various fields, ranging from multilateral trade, energy transition, to food security programs.

The following are the agreements between the two countries:

1. Trade and Investment

Indonesia is encouraging Brazil's leadership to accelerate the completion of the Indonesia-MERCOSUR Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IM-CEPA). The agreement with the South American trade bloc is considered crucial to increase trade and investment volume. As a follow-up, President Prabowo welcomed the plan for 700 Brazilian entrepreneurs to visit Indonesia to realize concrete cooperation. In addition, investment cooperation will also be encouraged through the active role of Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund (SWF), namely BPI Danantara.

2. Energy Transition and Agriculture

Brazil welcomes Indonesia's plan to send a technical team to study Brazil's two superior sectors, namely technology modernization in the agricultural sector and the development of renewable energy, especially biofuels. This step is in line with Indonesia's commitment to achieve 100% renewable energy, by taking the progress that Brazil has achieved as an example.

3. Food Security and Social Programs

Both countries share the same vision regarding the importance of food security. President Prabowo praised Brazil's free lunch program Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE) as a role model for the free nutritious meal program (MBG) in Indonesia. The MBG program is targeted to reach 82.9 million children and pregnant women every day by December 2025. This state visit is an important momentum to deepen this partnership, especially by exploring the potential to increase trade and investment volume between the two countries.

Counter Tariff Wars Together with BRICS

Indonesia officially became a member of the BRICS group in January 2025. Now, the South-South cooperation, which was established in 2001, has 11 member countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Iran.

Indonesia's joining BRICS opens up opportunities to increase economic cooperation, especially non-oil and gas exports to member countries. Until 2024, the value of Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports to the other 10 member countries was recorded at US$92.5 billion, or about 37 percent of total non-oil and gas exports. The largest portion of Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports is to China (24.15 percent) and India (8.13 percent).

The opportunity to boost exports to BRICS countries can mainly be aimed at China and South Africa. Non-oil and gas exports to these two countries in 2024 decreased compared to 2023, -3.06 percent and -6.27 percent respectively. In addition, opportunities can also be explored with Brazil, Russia, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran, whose role in total non-oil and gas exports is still below 1 percent.