RI to produce more ceramic tiles

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's production of ceramic floor and wall tiles is projected to increase to 200,000 million square meters this year from 170 million square meters in 1995, an official said here yesterday.

Director General for Metal, Machinery and Chemical Industries Effendi Sudarsono said at the opening of a four-day seminar on ceramic floor and wall tile production technology that this year's production increase would be supported by new factories.

He could not give the exact figure of last year's production but said the country's annual production between 1992 and 1995 remained constant at around 170 million square meters.

Effendi said 98 percent of the country's production was sold domestically. The two percent was exported bringing in foreign exchange earnings of about US$13 million to $14 million annually.

The Association of Italian Manufacturers of Machinery and Equipment for Ceramics seminar is to help domestic producers improve the quality of their floor and wall tiles to meet the demand of the booming property businesses.

Chairman of the Indonesian Ceramic Industry Association, Hendrata Atmoko said Indonesia was the second largest producer of ceramic wall and floor tiles after China in Asia, and sixth in the world.

He said there was an excessive supply in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). "We do not export products to other ASEAN members because the market is too competitive and they are imposing high import tariffs on such products."

He explained that the other ASEAN members imposed import tariffs of between 20 percent and 30 percent on imported ceramic tiles, compared to the 10 percent imposed by Indonesia.

Hendrata said Indonesia needed to become more competitive in its ceramic industry to prepare for the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) in 2003.

He said Indonesia was projected to increase its ceramic tile exports to about 10 percent of total production this year to Middle Eastern countries, Australia, the United States and other Pacific countries.

Hedrata -- who is also sales director of PT Mulia Industrindo, a publicly listed ceramic tile producer, said Indonesia imported between 300,000 to 400,000 superior quality ceramic tiles from Italy and Spain a year. (10)