Indonesian cement producers revise upward sales target
Indonesian domestic cement producers have revised upward their domestic sale target for this year following high consumption in July.
"True, we have revised upward our target to 10 per cent," chairman of the Indonesian Cement Producers Association (ASI) Urip Timuryono said here on Tuesday.
Data from the association show domestic cement sales rose six per cent to 40Mt last year. The association predicts the figure will increase to 44Mt this year.
Domestic cement sales in the seven months through July climbed 15 per cent to 26.8Mt.
However, cement exports plummeted 54 per cent to 677,000t from a year earlier. In total, cement sales rose 11 per cent to 27.5Mt.
Most populated Java island remained the biggest cement market in the January-July 2011 period with consumption estimated at 14.7Mt, up 18.2 per cent from the year before. Sumatra trailed behind in second place with 6.3Mt.
He attributed the surge in cement consumption to the growing property and infrastructure sectors as a result of stable benchmark interest rate coupled with government spending on infrastructure projects.
"As the interest rate is stable property developers are building property projects which require cement in large quantities," he said.
He expressed his belief that infrastructure and property projects would continue to grow in the fourth quarter of 2011 and therefore, demand for cement would remain high.
Published under Cement News
