Semen Indonesia Aims to Dominate Papuan Market

TEMPO.CO, Sorong - state-owned cement producer PT Semen Indonesia Tbk (IDX: SMGR) is set to have 50 percent share in the Papuan cement market. Semen Indonesia's head of marketing development, Rudi Hartono, said the target is in line with the company's decision to build a packing plant in Sorong at the end of last year.

"We will maximize the utilization of the packing plant," he said after a company-held infrastructure seminar in Sorong, Tuesday, May 28.

Rudi said that the packing plant with 300,000 tons capacity will push Semen Indonesia's demand in Papua by 30,000 to 40,000 tons per month. Rudi said that cement demand in Papua quite unstable and relatively small, absorbing only 12,000 tons of Sement Indonesia's products per month.

Data from the Indonesian Cement Association shows that, from January to April 2013, the volume of cement sales in Maluku and Papua had increased by 14 percent to 449,000 tons. Cement sales in Maluku and Papua only account for 2.4 percent of the national cement sales, which amounted to 18.1 million tons.

Head of South Sorong's Department of Public Works, Amos Kasi, said that Semen Indonesia's packing plant will ensure the availability of cement supplies, which has been minimal in Papua. The lack of supply is one of the reasons that infrastructure development in Papua is sluggish.

ENDRI KURNIAWATI