Asia to experience cement oversupply

Asia to experience cement oversupply

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's annual cement production in 1998 will probably reach 44.4 million tons, far higher than the domestic demand of 37 million tons, Chairman of the Indonesian Cement Association Soepardjo said.

Soepardjo told the press after a ceremony for the presentation of an ISO-9002 standardization certificate to state-owned PT Semen Padang here that Indonesian cement producers may face difficulties exporting part of their products in 1998 because Asia will experience oversupply that year.

Indonesian producers, therefore, must improve efficiency and the quality of their products to compete against manufacturers in other Asian countries, he said.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Indonesia's cement production is estimated to increase from 21.9 million tons in 1994 to 24.7 million tons in 1995 and to 27.2 million tons this year, while demand increased from 21.5 million tons in 1994 to 25.8 million tons last year and is expected to further increase to 28.8 million tons this year.

At yesterday's ceremony, Semen Padang, which operates its plant in West Sumatra with a production capacity of 3.27 million tons a year, accepted the ISO-9002 certificate from the Quality Certification Bureau Inc. (QCB) of Canada.

The company also accepted another standardization certificate from the American Petroleum Institute (API) for the production of oil well cement. (kod)