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ndonesia's cement sales volume rose by 8.6 percent to 18.12 million tons in the January to April period this year, from 16.68 million tons in the same period last year, according to the latest sales figures released by the Indonesian Cement Association.

According to the association's latest figures monthly cement sales also rose by 8.6 percent to 4.54 million tons in April from 4.18 million tons in the same month last year.

Although the volume of cement sold in April was almost the same in March, 4.53 million tons, the 8.6 percent rise in sales volume in April was higher than the 3.5 percent year on year increase recorded in March.

The largest cement producer PT Semen Indonesia reported higher than market growth at 19 percent to 7.91 million tons in sales volume in the first four months of the year compared to 6.65 million tons in the same period last year.

Although maintaining two-digit growth in sales volume during the January to April period, Semen Indonesia saw a lower month to month sales volume to 1.96 million tons in April compared to 2.01 million tons in March.

Semen Indonesia enjoyed a higher sales volume thanks to an increase in production following the commencement of its two new cement factories.

Unlike Semen Indonesia, other major producers such as PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa booked lower sales because the company was already running at full capacity. The company will only see additional production later in the fourth quarter of the year when its 1.9 million ton cement mill is scheduled to start operations.

The company's current production capacity stands at 18.6 million tons per year.

Indocement saw its sales volume lagging behind the national market. The company sold 4.23 million tons of cement to the domestic market in the first three months of the year, increasing only by 2.1 percent, far lower than the market's average of 8.6 percent during the period.

 'Our sales grew lower than expected as other producers raised their production. We're focusing on maintaining margin rather than sales volume,' Indocement finance director Tju Lie Sukanto said on Tuesday.

Indocement booked Rp 1.15 trillion (US$118.45 million) in net profit in the first quarter of the year, increasing by 14.6 percent compared to Rp 999.8 billion year on year. Its revenue rose 9.6 percent to
Rp 4.23 trillion during the January to March period, from Rp 4.17 trillion year on year. The ratio of net profit to revenue stood at 27 percent in the first quarter of the year, higher than 23.9 percent in the same period of 2012.

Sukanto said Indocement's cement price rose by between 6 and 7 percent in the first quarter of the year.

The company would further increase the price, should the government raise fuel prices, which would likely affect the company's production costs.

Analysts have said that the country's domestic cement sales are expected to increase to around 10 percent this year and to around 61 million tons by year end, increasing from 54.96 million tons in 2012 on the back of Indonesia's strong economy.

Buoyed by the opportunities, cement producers ' both existing players and newcomers ' are boosting their production capacity.

Research carried out by Isnaputra Iskandar of PT Nomura Indonesia said there were concerns from investors with potential new supplies coming to the domestic market.