Jakarta (ANTARA News) - PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk. plans to increase investment to raise its production capacity by two million tons a year to 20.6 million tons, its finance director, Christian Kartawijaya, said here on Friday.

He said at a public expose the company would add US$140 million to its investment to increase its mills at its plant in Citereup, West Java, which are expected to start operating in 2012 or 2013.

"Meanwhile, our capacity for this year remains the same as that of 2010 namely 18.6 million tons a year," he said.

He said the plan was made based upon optimism that domestic demand for cement would continue to increase.

He said the trend in the residential market was also predicted to be stronger that infrastructure or high-rise buildings.

"It is predicted the proportion of cement demand in bulk would be 25 to 30 percent higher following the implementation of a number of infrastructure projects," he said.

He said if consumption continued to increase Indocement would also plan to build a new plant with a capacity of up to three million tons in Central Java worth between US$450 million and US$600 million.

The figures, he said, are made based upon investment estimates for ground field (US$150 million per one million ton) and green field (US$200 million per one million ton. "The funds are expected to come internal sources," he said.

Christian said based on the outlook for 2011 domestic demand is expected to grow around five to six percent in line with the growth of gross domestic product.

The company`s president director, Daniel Lavalle, meanwhile said in 2010 the company`s revenue reached Rp11.138 trillion with a net profit of Rp3.225 trillion. Its market share last year reached 30.9 percent.

"Although there are a lot of challenges due to increasingly competitive markets Indocement has succeeded in increasing its market share to 30.9 percent in 2010 from 30.2 percent in the years before," he said.
(Uu.H-YH/HAJM/S012)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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