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ajor cement producer PT Holcim Indonesia (SMCB) on Thursday reported that market oversupply had driven the company to book lower cement sales in the first half compared to a year before.

Holcim '€” which is 80.6 percent controlled by Amsterdam-based Holderfin B.V., a subsidiary of Holcim Limited '€” saw its sales volume drop by 1.3 percent to 4 million tons between January and June 2013.

'€œThe company had foreseen the contraction after a similar dip in the first quarter, the first time after eight consecutive quarters of growth,'€ Holcim president director Eamon Ginley said in an email sent to The Jakarta Post.

In the first quarter, publicly listed Holcim reported that its cement sales volume had declined 1.6 percent to around 2 million tons. Ginley said the condition was temporary as demand would continue to increase over the medium to long terms, citing the government'€™s and the private sector'€™s investments in infrastructure and housing.

Despite lower cement sales volume, Holcim managed to post a 6.9 percent year-on-year rise in its revenues to Rp 4.48 trillion (US$435.63 million) in the first half of the year.

Java remains its largest market destination, making up Rp 3.19 trillion, or 71 percent of its total revenues, followed by exports and sales by Holcim Indonesia'€™s subsidiary in Malaysia, which accounts for nearly 29 percent of its total revenue.

But increasing sales costs and other expenses had eroded its net profits by 7.4 percent to Rp 467.02 billion by the end of June.

Holcim commercial director Jan Kunigk said fuel-price hikes would affect the cement industry, which was considering increasing the selling prices of its products. Holcim became the only company on the list of the top three publicly listed cement producers to post a decline in its net profits.

Largest producer PT Semen Indonesia (SMGR) rose 22.9 percent to Rp 2.58 trillion in its bottom line. Meanwhile, net profits of PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (INTP) surged 11.8 percent to Rp 2.42 trillion.

Between January and June, Semen Indonesia sold a total of 12.23 million tons of cement, 18.3 percent higher from the same period in 2012. Its revenues soared 31.9 percent to Rp 11.4 trillion.

Indocement also recorded higher total sales volume during the period, though only slightly. The volume was up 0.7 percent to 8.81 million tons and drove the revenues to climb 8.8 percent to Rp 8.92 trillion.

Holcim'€™s shares ended at Rp 2,600 on Thursday, 0.9 percent lower from a day before. Meanwhile, Semen Indonesia'€™s shares rose 3 percent to Rp 15,650 while Indocement'€™s increased 2.2 percent to
Rp 21,300 on the same day.

Raras Cahyafitri contributed to the story