RI copper demand may rise strongly

RI copper demand may rise strongly

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Indonesia's copper consumption is seen
rising strongly over the next few years due to robust demand in
the construction, power and communication sectors, a leading
domestic cable maker said.

Jimmy Chong, director of PT Kabelmetal, said in a paper at a
copper conference in Singapore said domestic copper rod
consumption grew to 93,865 tons in 1996, up sharply from 29,301
tons in 1991.

"The cable and wire sector consumes the largest portion of
copper," he said.

The leading user would be the construction sector, which has
benefited from a boom in the property market.

"The average demand for office space over the last three years
has increased significantly with the increase in foreign
investment in Indonesia," Chong said.

Direct investment over the last three years has surged to
100.7 trillion rupiah in 1996 from 53.3 trillion rupiah in 1994
and this "indicates strong growth from 1998 to 2000."

Another leading consumer of copper would be the power sector,
where demand is expect to rise 21,000 megawatts in 1999 from the
current 14,970 megawatts.

Telecommunication cables will also be needed to boost the
telephone density in Indonesia, which Chong said has the lowest
rate in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia has only 4.2 million phone lines for a population of
nearly 200 million people. The current plan is to install 8.5
million more lines to boost the telephone density to 8.7 percent.

"The new lines installed will use mainly copper cables," Chong
said.