HEIDELBERG (Yosefardi) – HeidelbergCement AG, German multinational building materials company, confirms Indonesian materials business is recording robust general economic growth, in contrast with weakening economic dynamics in other emerging countries in Asia.
Heidelberg said Indonesian domestic cement consumption increased 7.5% in the first six months of 2013 compared to the corresponding period of previous year.
But in contrast, Indocement, where Heidelberg is majority shareholder, saw its domestic sales volumes rose by only 0.5%. Heidelberg reasoned the small growth due to the entry of new cement capacities into the market, associated with discounts, and increased imports. As a result, Indocement decided to protect margins rather than react with price reductions.
“Our deliveries in the aggregates business line exceeded the previous year’s values in all Group countries; Indonesia, in particular, experienced a considerable increase in volumes. Overall, sales volumes of aggregates rose by 5.0 % to 18.5 million tonnes (previous year: 17.6),” the company said on its press statement.
Indocement is also developing its Citeureup production site. The commissioning of the grinding installation with a capacity of 1.9 million tonnes is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2013. In addition, we intend to further expand the Citeureup site by building a new integrated production line with a cement capacity of 4.4 million tonnes, which is set to be completed by 2015.