Komatsu leads RI excavator market

JAKARTA (JP): Japan's Komatsu led the Indonesian excavators market in 1996, followed by Japan's Hitachi and the United States' Caterpillar, a heavy equipment company said.

Rustam Effendi, president of PT Hexindo Adiperkasa, the distributor of Hitachi heavy equipments, said Komatsu made 33 percent of last year's sales of 2,900 excavators in Indonesia.

Hitachi and Caterpillar excavators each claimed 24.97 percent and 22.25 percent of sales respectively.

The remaining 19.78 percent of the market was filled by other brands from Japan and South Korea.

"Hexindo managed to increase its share of the excavator market in Indonesia from 23.7 percent in 1995 to almost 25 percent or 727 machines in 1996," Rustam said after the company's shareholders general meeting Thursday.

Hexindo Aiperkasa is a joint venture of PT Hexindo Adiperwira of Indonesia, Hitachi Construction Machinery of Singapore and Itochu Corp of Japan.

PT Hexindo Adiperwira, Hitachi and several other companies have also set up another joint venture to manufacture excavators and heavy equipment components in the Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta, industrial estate.

Komatsu excavators are sold here by PT Komatsu Indonesia, a joint venture by Komatsu Ltd, Sumitomo Corp, Marubeni Corp -- all from Japan -- and PT United Tractors of Indonesia.

Komatsu Indonesia also manufactures excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and motor graders in Cakung Cilincing, North Jakarta.

Caterpillar Ltd has set up a joint venture, PT Trakindo Utama, to distribute its products in Indonesia.

Trakindo also manufactures excavators, bulldozers, wheel graders and motor graders here.

Rustam said the production of four main heavy equipments -- hydraulic excavators, bulldozers, wheel graders and motor graders -- by Komatsu, Hitachi and Caterpillar in Indonesia reached 3,336 last year.

The figure still fell short of last year's demand for those products which reached 4,285 machines, he said.

Rustam projected that domestic sales of heavy equipment machines would increase 10 percent this year, especially because of the growing demand from pulp industry and shrimp pond operations.

But demand from construction and mining sectors, the main consumers of such machines, would remain the same this year, he said. (jsk)