Citatah targets $42 million in sales this year

JAKARTA (JP): PT Citatah, the country's largest marble producer, listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, is targeting to increase its total sales by 177.1 percent to Rp 97 billion ($42 million) this year.

"To meet the marble demand on the local and international markets, we're expanding our production capacity by 78 percent to 160,000 square meters per month," Citatah's president, Taufik Johannes, told the press Saturday at the opening of his company's stone gallery at Plaza Senayan in Central Jakarta.

The US$ 649,351 gallery features various kinds of marble products for houses and furniture.

Taufik said his company would invest about $20 million, derived from its initial public offering in June.

He pointed out that 70 percent of his company's marble products are sold on the domestic market and the other 30 percent exported to the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Taiwan and Italy.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Citatah's exports last year accounted for about 80 percent of Indonesia's total marble exports. Locally, the company commands a market share of around 90 percent.

Taufik said it was a remarkable achievement that his company had managed to penetrate the markets of Italy and the United States.

He said his company recently secured a contract worth $4 million from the 3,500-room Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas to supply various kinds of finished marble products.

Citatah also clinched a contract to supply marble products for the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, and the Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. (13)