Indonesia Cement Association (ASI) has called on the country's president to accelerate infrastructure
development to boost local cement demand.

“We expect the infrastructure programme to start in February or March, so that next year’s demand
could rise 4.6 or even eight per cent,” Widodo Santoso, head of the ASI said after meeting President Joko Widodo in the palace.

The president has said the infrastructure program has been considered slow in its implementation, but by infrastructure development may significantly boost cement consumption. Highlighting the current supply-demand imbalance, he said that amid the economic slowdown, domestic production capacities have reached 78Mta while domestic demand is around 65Mt.  “So the production capacity is 15 per cent higher than the demand,” he said. Meanwhile, Minister of Industries Saleh Husin added that the cement industry remains optimistic on the back of a recovering economy. (Source: The President.Post, Indonesia)