Jakarta (ANTARA News) - PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, producer of Tiga Roda cement, has invested 100 million US dollars this year in the construction of a cement mill in Citereup, West Java.

"Construction is scheduled for completion in 2013. The money will came from our own budget," Indocement`s deputy financial director Thomas Suryandi said in Jakarta Monday.

He said the investment fund is also used for several optimizing projects at the Citereup plant, logistic project, several batching plants and new mixer trucks for expansion of ready-made enterprises. Indocement also purchased new crushers to increase its aggregates.

Up to the third quarter this year, Indocement raised its sales by 21 pct to Rp9.7 trillion, compared to the Rp8.1 trillion in last year`s same period.

"An increase in the domestic cement market had a positive effect on our performance," Thomas said.

He added that domestic sales increased by 16.4 pct to 10.9 million tons, while Indocement`s market share from 31.1 pct to 31.3 pct.

He said the sales increase was encouraged by the large demands in the private sector, especially in housing and high-rise buildings.Cement sales in Java, Indocement`s main market, increased 19.2 pct.

Nevertheless, he said, the export sales increased 39 pct to 0.5 million tons, apparently due to the focus of the company on meeting the increased demands on the domestic market.

"Net profits increased 8.8 pct to Rp2.5 trillion," he said.
(T.ANT-258/H-NG/S012)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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