Heavy equipment production drops 52% on mining downturn

Production of heavy equipment products in the country in the first quarter of this year dropped by 52.3 percent to 619 units from 1,298 units in the corresponding period of last year due to weaker demand amid lingering downturn in the mining and plantation industries, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

The paper quoted Head of the Indonesian Heavy Equipment Association (Hinabi) Jamaludin (one name) as saying that the first quarter performance is the work in the past two years.

He said that heavy equipment producers have been facing weak market condition during the past two years, worsened by rising production cost. He said that the weak market condition is expected to continue in the next several months.

Last year, heavy equipment production tumbled by 31.6 percent to 3,535 units from 5,172 units in the previous year. In 2013, output reached 6,172 units, according to Hinabi data. Domestic heavy equipment output is dominated by excavators, which account for about 90 percent of production, followed by bulldozers.

Jamaluddin said that to help support the domestic heavy equipment industry, he expected the government to push for the use of local production particularly in government sponsored infrastructure projects. (*)