Indonesia: shift to optimism
While the Indonesian cement market boomed following the 1997-98 financial crisis, the domestic cement industry has undergone considerable changes as international majors moved in. Following the recent LafargeHolcim merger and the move away from Java’s epicentre in terms of capacity building, Indonesia’s cement industry continues to evolve as it looks forward with optimism to accelerating market growth. By Malcolm AR Llewellyn OBE, PT Numada, Indonesia.
Increased competition on Java is encouraging cement producers to look for profitable opportunities in
other parts of Indonesia, causing a shift in capacity building away from the island to the periphery
The Indonesian cement market has evolved significantly over the past 35 years from consuming only 6Mt in 1980, rising to 15.5Mt in 1990 and approximately 62Mt (including unaccounted imports) in 2015 .
During the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, the market experienced a deep plunge:
from eight per cent growth noted the previous year to a 27 per cent contraction. It took two years for the industry to return to a positive sales trend and 10 years for the Indonesian market to return to pre-crisis domestic consumption levels.
