Indonesia’s cement consumption rises

Cement consumption in Indonesia jumped 20 per cent to 2.04Nt in February from 1.7Mt in the same month in 2003.  Exports however fell 39.5 per cent to 357,915t, according to data released by the Indonesian Cement Association. Sales including exports rose to 2.4Mt in February 2004 from 2.29Mt in the same period last year.  In the first two months of this year sales including exports totaled 5.37Mt, up slightly from 5.16Mt in the same period in 2003. State-owned PT Semen Gresik, with subsidiaries PT Semen Padang and PT Semen Tonasa, is the country’s largest cement producer, posting sales of 920,756t in February 2004, up 25.2 per cent year-on-year.