Indonesian cement market contracts 5% in 1H23

Cement sales in Indonesia totalled 28.052Mt in the first six months of 2023, down 4.8 per cent from 29.417Mt in the 6M22.

Java, the country’s largest market, saw sales decline by 6.8 per cent YoY to 14.571Mt as sales in Jateng fell by 17.1 per cent.

In Sumatra, sales decreased by 3.4 per cent to 6.094Mt in the 6M23 from 6.307Mt in the year-ago period. The 21.2 per cent sales increase in Riau, 6.1 per cent increase in Jambi and 2.2 per cent uptick in Sumut were unable to offset decreased sales in the rest of the island. For example, Benkula and Lampung reported a drop of 22.8 and 12.3 per cent, respectively.

Sulawesi sales were down by 12.8 per cent YoY to 2.728Mt in the 6M23 from 3.128Mt in the 6M22 with all parts of the island reporting declines. Sultera and Sulut saw sales drop by over 24 per cent YoY while the smallest decrease was seen by Sulbar, where offtake slipped 1.3 per cent YoY.

In Kalimantan sales increased by 7.7 per cent YoY to 2.027Mt from 1.882Mt in the 1H22. Most parts of Kalimantan reported an increase in sales, led by Kaltim where sales were up by 32 per cent YoY in the 6M23. Kalbar was the only district were sales fell, by 10.9 per cent YoY.

Nusa Tenggara reported a positive trend with sales increasing 11.6 per cent YoY to 1.632Mt in the 1H23 from 1.463Mt in the 1H22. The 17 per cent advance in volumes in Northern Maluku was sufficient to offset falling sales in other parts of the region – Maluku, West Papua and Papua.

Exports
In the first half of 2023 Indonesia exported 657,672t of cement, down 13.1 per cent YoY from 756,825t in the 1H22.

Clinker exports saw a 14.5 per cent upswing to 4,624,573t in the first half of this year when compared with the year-ago period, when clinker exports reached 4,040,437t.

Production
Cement production in Indonesia declined 2.8 per cent YoY to 29.29Mt in the January-June 2023 period from 30.13Mt in the 1H22.

Clinker production advanced by 3.7 per cent YoY to 27.31Mt in the 1H23 from 26.33Mt in the equivalent period of the previous year.