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[July 2002]
Increasing Popularity of Clay Materials Spells Good News for Leading Malaysian Manufacturer
The Malaysian brick and clay roof tile manufacturer Kia Lim Bhd is hoping that new housing projects and the upgrading of public parks will create increased demand for its products. Chairman and Managing Director Datuk Ng Eng Sos said that the current tendency of most housing developers to choose clay tiles over concrete roof tiles was a good sign for the company. He said that the switch was largely influenced by demand from house buyers who wanted more aesthetically appealing houses with better quality roofing.Ng said that most of the new housing projects used unglazed terracotta roof tiles as they blended nicely with the tropical surroundings and coloured tiles for high-end houses. "Developers could actually boost the value of the houses by using the more attractive clay roofing tiles," he told Star Business. Ng added that Kia Lim had captured about 40% share of the local unglazed terracotta roof tile market and that the brand name Clayon was well accepted by the housing sector.
In view of the new housing projects coming on stream, Ng was hopeful of increased demand for the company's facing bricks. The price of facing bricks - which dropped by 20% after the 1997 financial crisis - only began to show some improvement in the second quarter of 2002, thanks to a steady demand from the housing and construction sector.
Ng said that about 70% of Kia Lim's paver bricks were marketed locally and the balance of 30% was exported to Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and countries in the Middle East. He said that the company was also looking at China as its next export target as the Chinese roof tile and paver brick market was largely untapped.
Kia Lim is the largest clay brick manufacturer in Malaysia, with a capacity of around 180 million pieces per annum.
ENDS