JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Domestic cement sales reached 4.5 million tons in January 2015, declined 2.9% compared to January 2014, due to rain factor and lower commodity prices.
Cement sales in Kalimantan dropped 12.8% to 327,000 tons while cement sales in Sumatera fell 9.6% to 924,000 tons.
In Bali and Nusa Tenggara, cement sales declined 4.6% to 245,000 tons, followed by Sulawesi which dropped 4.1% to 334,000 tons. Cement sales in Java island was stagnat at 2.55 million tons.
Otherwise, cement sales in Maluku and Papua jumped 42.5% to 125,000 tons. In 2014, national cement sales reached 60 million tons in 2014 period, grew by 3.3% from 58 million tons in 2013.
Total national cement consumption was 62 million tons during 2014, including 2 million tons of imported cement. For this year, both cement sales and demand are expected to grow by 5.6%.