Indonesian cement market contracts 38% in May

Demand for cement in Indonesia declined 38.3 per cent in May 2020 to 3,207,114t, according to the Indonesia Cement Association (ASI). In May 2019 domestic consumption reached 5,195,380t.

The largest decrease was noted in the country’s largest market, Java, where demand fell 46.5 per cent from 3,025,312t in May 2019 to 1,619,822t in May 2020. Sumatra, the second-largest market, contracted by 29.4 per cent to 717,308t from 1,016,546t in May 2019. Offtake in Sulawesi fell 28.5 per cent to 279,436t while in Nusa Tenggara sales were down by 10 per cent to 269,503t. In Kalimantan demand was down 36.4 per cent to 211,541t and in East Indonesia the fall was 16.2 per cent to 109,505t.

January-May 2020
In the January-May 2020 period, Indonesian cement consumption contracted by 11.9 per cent YoY to 22.625Mt. The decline was most marked in Java, where demand fell 16.5 per cent YoY to 12.033Mt from 14.418Mt in the 5M19. However, the drop was significantly smaller in Sumatra, where demand was down 5.7 per cent to 4.96Mt (5M19:5.261Mt), and in Sulawesi, where consumption contracted by 5.1 per cent YoY to 2.01Mt from 2.117Mt in the 5M19. Sales in Kalimantan fell 13.1 per cent to 1.496Mt, down from 1.72Mt in the 5M19, and in Nusa Tenggara a 11.3 per cent fall was reported as demand declined to 1.336Mt from 1.506Mt in January-May 2019. However, sales in East Indonesia, the country’s smallest market, expanded by 19.1 per cent to 0.789Mt in the 5M20, from 0.662Mt in the 5M19.