Indofood Sukses Makmur (Indofood), Indonesia's largest food processing company and the world's largest producer of instant noodles, posted net sales of IDR 50.06 trillion (US $5.1 billion) over 2012, a 10.4 percent increase compared to 2011. Its Consumer Branded Products Group (CBP) continued to be the largest contributor to its net sales, contributing around 43 percent, followed by Bogasari (25 percent), Agribusiness (24 percent) and Distribution (8 percent).

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Although Indonesia's January cement sales showed robust growth of 15 percent to 4.65 million metric tons (year-on-year), the country's cement sales in February slowed to 8.2 percent (4.39 million metric tons) compared to a year earlier; The slowest pace of growth in six months. Strong annual GDP growth has caused a rise in property and infrastructure projects but a delay in some government projects might be behind the slower cement sales growth in February.

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Contrary to coffee demand in Western countries (which is expected to grow by about one percent per year), coffee demand in Asia - and in line with the region's economic growth - is expected to grow by about five to ten percent annually. A number of Asian coffee bean producing and exporting countries exhibit populations that drink more coffee and thus need to allocate more of its production to the domestic market, at the expense of its export.

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An official at Indonesia's Finance Ministry announced today that Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.23% in 2012, thus failing to meet the government's revised target of 6.3-6.5%. Factors that contributed to Indonesia's lower than expected economic growth last year were weak exports due to poor international trade and non-optimal government spending. On the positive side, all sectors of the Indonesian economy experienced growth.

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