Indonesia: January sales drop 2.3% YoY

Indonesia's cement sales struggled last month as bad weather disrupted construction projects across the country. Sales fell to 5.3Mt last month, down 2.3 per cent YoY.

"Rain and storms are present in many regions of Indonesia, and they might last until March. Only then we can expect the construction industry to rebound," Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) Chairman, Widodo Santoso, said.

Maluku and Papua were the only regions where cement sales increased, surging to 143,000t in January, representing a 21 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. This strong performance is due to several power plants and smelters are under development in both areas, Mr Widodo said.

Meanwhile, sales dropped 13 per cent to 315,000t in Kalimantan, followed by Sumatra, where sales fell 6.3 per cent to 1.03Mt. Sales in Bali and Nusa Tenggara shrank 2.7 per cent to 312,000t. Cement sales in Sulawesi were stagnant at 429,000t.

In Java, the biggest cement market, sales dropped 0.6 per cent to 2.94Mt, with distributors saying many of their customers put cement purchases on hold as rain and flooding disrupted construction projects.

Nevertheless, the ASI predicts a four per cent increase in sales in 2017.

"Hopefully, the infrastructure developments and strategic projects will proceed in a few weeks," Widodo said.

Cement sales in the country remained stable at 62Mt in 2016, the same as in 2015, ASI data showed.