Cibinong resumes exports

CILACAP, Central Java (JP): PT Semen Cibinong, one of the country's major cement producers, will soon resume its cement exports to Australia after being stalled for several months due to strained relations between the two countries.

Sugiyanto, the company's official in charge of the production unit in Cilacap, said here on Friday that the exports would be resumed this week following an improvement in the political relations between the two countries.

A number of Indonesian traders halted their trade relations with their Australian partners as retaliation against a boycott launched by trade unions in September, last year. The unions refused to handle goods originating from and to Indonesia in protest against the Indonesian government's handling of the East Timor problem.

Semen Cibinong shipped 242,371 tons of cement and 335,297 tons of clinker to the neighboring country through the local port last year.(45)