Car Sales Astra International Rose 9% in January-August 2017
Astra International, one of Indonesia's largest diversified conglomerates, sold 398,995 cars in the first eight months of the year, up 9 percent year-on-year (y/y) from the company's car sales in the January-August 2016 period. The Astra Group, the biggest force in Indonesia's automotive sector, now controls 56 percent of the nation's car sales market.
Tira Ardianti, Head of Investor Relations at Astra International, said East Java has started to become an interesting market for the company although the Jakarta region and West Java remain the company's two most important markets.
In June and July 2017 Astra International's car sales were not too great due to the Ramadan and Idul Fitri celebrations. However, in the remainder of the year Ardianti said the company wants to maintain its market share at around 56 percent which would imply Astra needs to sell around 616,000 vehicles in full-year 2017 (based on total car sales estimates in 2017).
Earlier, the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) said it targets to see Indonesian car sales rise modestly 1.1 million in 2017.
Astra International is often called the "barometer of the Indonesian economy" as this diversified conglomerate has units in the major sectors of the economy. A rise in car sales tends to indicate improving purchasing power in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
Meanwhile, at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) in Surabaya it was reported that total car sales in Indonesia reached 715,291 units up to January-August 2017, up 3.5 percent from sales in the same period one year earlier.
Rizwan Alamsyah, Gaikindo Chairman III, said East Java is now the third-biggest car market in Indonesia, accounting for 7 percent of the nation's total sales. Therefore, this province - and especially the bigger cities such as Surabaya - are expected to develop into key markets.
On Friday (22/09) shares of Astra International were down 0.64 percent to IDR 7,775 a share by 15:30 pm local Jakarta time. So far this year, the company's shares have fallen 6.04 percent.
Stock Quote Astra International - ASII:
Indonesian Car Sales (CBU):
| Month | Sold Cars 2013 |
Sold Cars 2014 |
Sold Cars 2015 |
Sold Cars 2016 |
Sold Cars 2017 |
| January | 96,718 | 103,609 | 94,194 | 85,002 | 86,324 |
| February | 103,278 | 111,824 | 88,740 | 88,208 | 95,159 |
| March | 95,996 | 113,067 | 99,410 | 94,092 | 102,336 |
| April | 102,257 | 106,124 | 81,600 | 84,770 | 89,623 |
| May | 99,697 | 96,872 | 79,375 | 88,567 | 94,091 |
| June | 104,268 | 110,614 | 82,172 | 91,488 | 66,370 |
| July | 112,178 | 91,334 | 55,615 | 61,891 | 84,905 |
| August | 77,964 | 96,652 | 90,537 | 96,282 | 96,483 |
| September | 115,974 | 102,572 | 93,038 | 92,541 | |
| October | 112,039 | 105,222 | 88,408 | 92,106 | |
| November | 111,841 | 91,327 | 86,938 | 100,365 | |
| December | 97,706 | 78,802 | 73,264 | 86,547 | |
| Total | 1,229,916 |
1,208,019 | 1,013,291 | 1,061,859 |