Indonesia’s cement consumption, an indicator of economic activity, rose 6.9 per cent by volume in April from a year earlier, the country’s largest cement maker said.
State-controlled PT Semen Gresik Tbk , 25.5 percent owned by Mexican cement giant Cemex SA , said Southeast Asia’s largest economy used 2.37 million tonnes of the building material last month, up from 2.22Mt a year before.
Domestic sales of Semen Gresik alone rose 9.1 percent to 1.06Mt. Including exports, total Gresik sales fell 0.5 per cent to 1.18Mt, the firm said.
This year, industry executives and analysts have predicted cement sales could grow by between 5 and 10 per cent.
The Semen Gresik group has capacity to produce 16Mt a year. Last year, it produced 15.6Mt – nearly half total national output. Last year, Indonesia consumed 30.04Mt of cement, up from 27.54Mt in 2003.
