Indonesian cement sales growth picked up pace during May following a slowdown during the month before on the back of legislative elections.

Last month cement sales advanced by 7.7 per cent to 5.2Mt, latest data from the Indonesia Cement Association shows. This follows just a 0.4 per cent increase in April before as elections led to projects being put on hold.

Cement sales in May increased in most regions with the exception of Maluku, Papua (-4.7 per cent YoY) and Nusa Tenggara (-13 per cent YoY).

Sumatra, the country’s second-largest domestic market for cement, used 1.1Mt of cement, up 5.4 per cent from last year.

Kalimantan posted the strongest growth, with sales up 21 per cent to 402,204 tons, while sales in Sulawesi jumped rose 16 per cent to 410,064t. Cement sales in Java rose 8.2 per cent to 3Mt, the data showed. Java accounted for 56 per cent of the country’s cement sales so far this year.