Indonesia Astra says may miss '08 auto sales target
JAKARTA, May 28 (Reuters) - Indonesia's largest automotive distributor, PT Astra International Tbk (ASII.JK), may miss its sales target for this year amid weaker consumer spending due to higher fuel prices, a company director said on Wednesday.
The government on Saturday raised domestic subsidised fuel prices by nearly 30 percent to reduce budget subsidies, prompting concerns it would hurt consumer demand for goods such as cars in Southeast Asia's top economy.
"Our automotive sales are likely to have some 5-7 percent correction from our target," Prijono told reporters.
Prior to the fuel price hike, a senior Astra official had said the third largest company on the Indonesian stock exchange by market value, expected to sell around 250,000 new vehicles this year, up from 223,104 units last year.
Astra, which controls about 50 percent of domestic market share, also said higher car prices could also hurt demand.
Astra -- which distributes vehicles from global carmakers including Toyota, Daihatsu, Peugeot and Isuzu -- said higher raw material prices such as steel and aluminium, had forced the company to increase the selling price of its products.
Many analysts say the government's decision to hike subsidised fuel prices will lead to higher interest rates, which could slow down vehicle sales as the majority of them are financed by loans. (Reporting by Nury Sybli, writing by Harry Suhartono, editing by Sugita Katyal)
