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)