Indonesia: The Indonesia Cement Association (ASI) has urged the government to restrict the issuance of new licenses as the country's cement industry has been experiencing oversupply. Widodo Santoso, chairman of the ASI, told an industry seminar that there are 13 cement producers in the country with total production capacity of 92Mt/yr but that local demand is only reaching 63 – 65Mt/yr, according to Cogencis.
"The government should restrict investment in cement industry by leading the new cement investment to outside Java where there is no cement industry," said Santoso said.
Santoso added that 10 cement plants opened in 2015 and that four more are set to start operation in 2016. By 2017 the country’s cement production capacity may surpass 100Mt/yr. He recommended that local producers increase their exports. The ASI estimates that exports will increase to 2Mt/yr in 2016 from 0.5Mt/yr in 2015. Countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Australia, African countries, and West Asian countries are among the destinations.
