Indonesia cement consumption up 3.8%

Consumption of cement in January 2004 has reached 2.34Mt or 3.8 per cent more than in the same period of last year when the figure was 2.27Mt.

In the same period, cement exports also increased by about four per cent from 604,700t to 628,900t, whereas the domestic cement market and exports reached 2.97Mt, up by about 3.6 per cent compared to January last year when the figure was 2.87Mt.

Data obtained from the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) showed that the biggest domestic sales was still in Java with cement consumption standing at 1.417Mt or 3.4 per cent up from January 2003 when the figure was 1.37Mt.

The investor relations director of PT Semen Gresik, Soebagyo said  ASI estimated that the domestic cement market during 2004 would increase by about 3.0 per cent compared to 2003.

"This is a conservative growth figure considering the rupiah’s exchange rate, industrial growth in the construction sector specially by considering the government’s plans to build more tollroads and one million housing units and to develop other property sectors," he said.