Peru’s leading cement producer Cementos Lima posted a 51.8m-sol (US$15.2m) net profit in the first half, up 2.6 per cent from 1H03, according to information filed with the country’s securities regulator (Conasev).  For the period, net sales rose 3.66 per cent to 286m soles and operating profit dropped one per cent to 76m soles.  Earlier this month, Cementos said it would go ahead with a project to build a US$24m, 6.5km transporter to take cement from its Atocongo plant in capital Lima to a warehouse at its Conchán port terminal. The company supplies cement to markets in central Peru, has a 39% domestic market share and also exports to the US. In 2003, it posted a 91.3mn-sol net profit, down 4.8% from the year before.  Cement sales in Peru grew 8.9 per cent to 2.23Mt in the first half compared to 1H03, with domestic sales at 1.91Mt, while exports leapt 40.4 per cent to 313,870t.