Holcim sustains sales on APEC construction project

JAKARTA. Cement producer PT Holcim Indonesia has been boosted by construction growth in Bali, where the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference will be held later this year.

With only one franchise in Bali, the company sold 14,000 tons a month, a 15 percent rise from the previous year, says Holcim vice president Juhans Suryantan.

“Nationally, this year’s cement sales growth has tended to slow down but we have been able to take advantage of construction growth in Bali,” he said on Saturday as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said the company would continue to take the opportunity offered by hotel development growth ahead of the APEC conference.

“Even sales growth in Bali this year is far above other regions. More infrastructure development projects have been carried out ahead of the APEC summit,” Juhans said.

He said Holcim’s sales nationally grew by 7.5 percent, or 4.01 million tons, in the first semester of 2013 compared to the same period last year.

“Next year we are predicting the growth will not be as good as this year, because the infrastructure projects will all have finished,” he said.

Figures from the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) showed that the national cement sales volume reached 27.83 million tons from January to June, a 7.5 percent increase from the 25.89 million tons in the same period last year.

The increase was smaller than the 15 percent surge in January to June 2012 from the same period in 2011.

A trend of slowing domestic cement sales is likely to continue over the next six months due to a decline in infrastructure development.

Reasons for slower national growth include fewer infrastructure projects in the first half of the year, plunging commodity prices that have affected development in resource-rich provinces and more frequent rain, ASI chairman Widodo Santoso said recently.

Until now, Holcim’s national market share is around 15 percent, according to figures from ASI.

In Indonesia, Holcim operates two cement plants in Narogong, West Java, and Cilacap, Central Java, with a total production capacity reaching 9.1 million tons a year.

Holcim Indonesia’s shares are mostly controlled by Netherlands-based Holderfin BV, with 5 percent of shares owned by the public.

Holcim Indonesia’s shares, traded under the code SMCB at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), traded at Rp 2,700 apiece on Monday, unchanged from the previous closing. (asw)