PT Indocement - October 2019

In the first nine months of 2019, PT Indocement has reported cement sales volumes of 12.8Mt. Although this marks a decline of 1.9 per cent YoY, it has still fared better than the Indonesian cement industry as a whole, which has fallen by 2.2 per cent YoY over the same period. However, September this year saw sales advance by 6.2 per cent compared to the previous month.

Looking ahead to the final quarter of the year, the company remains confident due to a downward trend in bank interest rates and an easing of the loan-to-value policy that should drive up public consumption especially in the real estate sector. According to Antonius Marcos, director and corporate secretary at Indocement, of greater concern is the implementation of the over dimension overload (ODOL) policy on freight trucks that is due to become effective from January 2020. The company believes the policy may lead to a shortage of cement transport fleet, hampering cement distribution and leading to cement scarcity and lower cement consumption. Indocement hopes the Indonesian government will delay the application of ODOL to enable the industry to better prepare for its introduction.