PT Indocement Tunggal Prakasa, the second largest cement producer in Indonesia, has forecast the nation’s cement demand to increase by 8% this year to a total of 41.5 million t. Such a prediction would result in slower growth over 2H this year, bearing in mind that the nation’s cement consumption increased by about 12% over 1H this year. Consumption increased 0.9% in 2009, reaching a total of 38.4 million t.
Christian Kartawijaya, Finance Director at Indocement, told Reuters, "Indocement should beat the national growth by about 2 to 3%." He remarked how the company is in the process of expanding its production capacity by adding a further 2 million t to the current capacity of 18.6 million t – an investment that should be completed at some point next year.