Gresik books rise in sales

JAKARTA (JP): State owned cement company PT Semen Gresik said on Wednesday its sales rose 10.2 percent to 7.42 million tons in the first half of this year from 6.73 million tons in the same period last year.

"It follows a 28.2 percent increase to 11.78 million tons in domestic cement consumption and a 10.4 percent rise to 4.2 million in export demand," the company was quoted by AFX as saying, adding that total demand surged by 16.9 percent.

The firm's first-half exports slipped slightly to 2.1 million tons from 2.14 million tons last year because of lower export sales by its subsidiaries Semen Padang and Semen Tonasa, it said.

In June, Semen Gresik's total sales climbed to 1.5 million tons compared to 1.23 million tons a year ago, while its exports were up 26.5 percent to 470,828 tons from 372,141 tons.

Semen Gresik said demand for the commodity had recovered last month, adding that June's total demand was up 34.5 percent to 3.54 million tons from 2.63 million tons a year ago.

Company president Urip Timuryono said earlier that he estimated total cement consumption would increase 13 percent to 25 million tons in 2001 from 22 million tons last year.(05)