Holcim`s Sales Boosted By Construction Growth in Bali

Denpasar (Antara Bali) - Cement producer PT Holcim Indonesia has got a boost from construction growth in Bali so that nationally its sales performance has not been affected significantly by recent fuel price hike, vice president Juhans Suryantan said.

"Nationally, growth of cement sales this year tends to slow down but we have been able to take advantage of construction growth in Bali," he said here on Saturday evening.

He said the company would continue to take the opportunity offered by hotel development growth ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference on the island later this year.

"Even sales growth in Bali this year is far above other regions. More infrastructure development projects have been carried out ahead of the APEC summit," he said.

He said in the first semester this year Holcim`s sales grew around 7.5 percent or lower than in the first semester of 2012 which was recorded at 14 percent.

"Next year we are predicting the growth will not be as good as this year because the infrastructure projects have all finished," he said.

Until now Holcim`s national market share is around 15 percent. In Bali with only one franchise its sales reached 14,000 tons a month or rose 15 percent from the previous year.

"In view of that we will continue to give training to construction workers in Bali. Nationally, we have trained 19,000 workers while in Bali the number has reached only 2,000," he said.

The majority of PT Holcim Indonesia`s shares is controlled by Holcim Group based in Switzerland.

In Indonesia Holcim operates two cement plants in Narogong, West Java, and Cilacap in Central Java with total production capacity reaching 9.1 million tons a year.  (M038)