National cement consumption rises by 15 percent

The Association of Indonesian Cement Producer said that national consumption of cement rose by 15 percent to 25.8 million tons year-on-year in the first half of this year.

Cement producers are the second biggest buyers of coal in Indonesia after state electricity company PT PLN.

The association earlier said that the cement industry required about 8 million tons of coal this year as its clinker capacity was expected to rise due to the increase of domestic consumption of cement.

The association?s chairman Widodo Santoso said that the sharp increase in cement consumption was contributed by construction activities in the property sector, which recorded average growth rate of 7 percent a year.

?In addition, the rise in the cement consumption was also contributed by the increase in the government?s infrastructure projects,? he said as quoted by Kontan.

It said that the per capita cement consumption has risen to 200 kg at present from 141 kilogram in 2007.

The association said that Java accounted for 55 percent of the national cement consumption, while Sumatra contributed 23 percent, Kalimantan and Sulawesi contributed 7 percent, respectively.(*)