GRP penetrates the US market
PT Gunung Raja Paksi Tbk, (GRP) exports Structural Steel to Casa Grande, Arizona-United States. Precisely to Lucid Motors, electric car manufacturer Luxury Electric Car. The release of exports worth USD 1 million was carried out by the Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, Monday, March 21, 2022.
According to the President Director of PT Gunung Raja Paksi Tbk, Abednedju Giovano Warani Sangkaeng, the type of steel exported is a structural beam of approximately 700 MT. "This is a trial order for the construction of the Lucid Motors factory," said Argo, his nickname, in a written statement today.
Argo added, these exports also indicate that domestic steel products have succeeded in penetrating the export market to the USA. “Indonesia can be proud of this export to the US. Because it is not easy to penetrate the US market, it requires high product quality standards,” he said.
Lucid Motors itself is a startup or start-up in the United States that is a competitor to Tesla's electric car. The automaker is led by Peter Rawlinson, Tesla's former chief technical officer for Tesla Model S production.
This steel shipment to Uncle Sam's country is the company's effort to achieve the 2022 export target of USD 70 million. In addition, it is also to increase the export portion to 20 percent, compared to 2021 which is only 5 percent. In 2021 alone, the export value achieved by the GRP will reach USD 44 million.
"We are optimistic that the target will be exceeded. This is because steel is one of the largest contributors to Indonesia's exports, in addition to CPO and coal. In addition, GRP steel products have also been recognized internationally, by obtaining a Conditional Certificate from AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction) and WTIA (Welding Technology Institute of Australia) 3834 and AWS (American Welding Society) D1.1 standard. In addition, we also hope that this export will also be a good start to further improve the performance of the GRP compared to 2021," he said.
Throughout 2021, GRP also made a very positive performance. That is by scoring a net profit of USD 61.9 million, or a 791.3 percent jump compared to the previous year.
This encouraging performance, according to Argo, cannot be separated from the business transformation carried out by the company. From the previous family company, it became a public company in 2019 and managed to become more professional by carrying out strict supervision of the purchase price of raw materials and the selling price of goods to ensure that all inventories sold produce good margins.
In addition, GRP also became the first steel mill in Indonesia and one of the first in Asia, to purchase carbon credits. GRP's involvement in the purchase of carbon credits from Climate Impact X (CIX), which is a global exchange market for carbon credits as well as a leading auctioneer. "This is proof that the company is committed to the implementation of ESG, while at the same time caring about handling climate change," he concluded. (*)
