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Indonesia's largest automotive producer and distributor, PT
Astra International, has predicted that Indonesia's total car sales
will fall by about 34 percent this year to 350,000 from 533,910 last
year.
Astra director Prijono Sugiarto said Wednesday at the Astra annual
shareholders meeting that during the first four months of the year,
domestic car sales reached only 102,245 units, of which 59,339, or 58
percent, were accounted for by Astra.
He estimated that demand would begin to pick up in the second half,
thanks to a decline in interest rates.
The central bank cut its key rate on May 9 after raising it five times
in the four months up to December.
Priojono said he hoped that sales in the second semester would
contribute between 55 and 60 percent of this year's total sales
estimate.
His forecast is lower than the 400,000 to 500,000 car sales predicted
by the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association.
"Sales of 400,000 new cars will only be achieved if the economic
conditions are better than we expect," he said.
PT Toyota-Astra Motor president Johnny Darmawan said Astra had been
offering price cuts since November last year to encourage people to
purchase new cars.
He said that the level of discount "depends on the negotiations with
the buyers, but our official list prices won't change. The higher the
stock level is, the greater the discount."
Johnny said that it was hoped the discounts would attract new buyers as
high borrowing costs during the first quarter of this year had caused
many prospective buyers to defer their purchase plans.
At Wednesday's annual meeting, Astra reported that it had registered an
increase in net profit of 0.9 percent to Rp 5.457 trillion (US$606
million) in 2005 from Rp 5.405 trillion in 2004.
Of last year's profit, 32.6 percent would be distributed as dividends,
with shareholders registered on or before June 20 receiving a final
dividend of Rp 340 per share on July 4. The company distributed an
initial dividend of Rp 100 per share last November.
Astra remains the leading automobile supplier in the country, holding a
market share of about 60 percent.
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