Buton asphalt for Vietnam

Buton asphalt for Vietnam

JAKARTA (JP): Facing difficulties in marketing its asphalt
domestically, foreign investment firm PT Amerta Margayasa Aspal
plans to export its products to a number of neighboring
countries.

The company's president, John Huliselan, was quoted yesterday
by Antara as saying that the Vietnamese government had expressed
interest in importing its micro-asphalt, produced on Buton
island, Southeast Sulawesi.

"This is a great success for us in promoting Buton's micro-
asphalt abroad," Huliselan said. He added that his company had
conducted a series of seminars and demonstrations on the use of
micro-asphalt in Vietnam.

He said that other countries interested in importing the
micro-asphalt included Singapore, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and
Australia. The company will soon export 500 tons to Australia.

The Australia-affiliated Amerta Margayasa used to produce
micro-asphalt, with a total output of 50,000 tons per annum, but
managed to sell only 20,000 tons per annum on the domestic
market.

Besides micro-asphalt, the company also produced butonite
mastic asphalt. However, it has halted production of its butonite
mastic asphalt since last year, due to a large stock in
inventory. (rid)