Semen Gresik's sales rose 9% in October

Semen Gresik's sales rose 9% in October

JAKARTA: PT Semen Gresik, Indonesia's biggest cement maker by volume, said cement sales rose 9 percent to 1.55 million metric tons in October, from 1.43 million tons in the same month last year.

Domestic sales in October gained 7 percent to 1.33 million tons, while export sales jumped 21 percent to 221,778 tons, the Gresik, East Java-based cement maker said on Monday in a faxed statement.

In the 10 months ended Oct. 31, Gresik's sales rose 12 percent to 13.2 million tons, helped by a 13 percent gain to 11.4 million tons in domestic sales. Exports grew 5.9 percent.

Total sales by all Indonesian cement makers, including Semen Gresik and rival PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, rose 8 percent to 3.58 million tons last month. Domestic sales rose 6 percent, helped by a 34 percent surge in demand in West Java province. In the 10 months, sales rose 8 percent to 31.7 million tons, as domestic sales rose 9 percent to 25.2 million tons.-- Bloomberg