Charoen Pokphand cuts feedmeal output<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed poultry feed meal producer PT
\nCharoen Pokphand Indonesia said on Wednesday that the country's
\nworst ever economic crisis has forced the company to reduce
\nproduction by 50 percent.<\/p>\n
Company Director Djoko M. Basoeki said feed meal production is
\ncurrently around 1.2 million metric tons a year, down from last
\nyear's production of 2.41 million tons.<\/p>\n
\"Lower demand and the soaring cost of raw materials have
\nforced us to cut our production by 50 percent,\" he said during a
\nhearing with the House of Representatives Commission III on
\nagriculture and food affairs.<\/p>\n
He said the monetary turmoil, which has slashed the rupiah's
\nvalue by about 75 percent since July, 1997, has more than doubled
\nthe price of feed meal as most of the raw materials are imported.<\/p>\n
The demand has dropped sharply because many poultry farmers
\ncan no longer afford to buy feed meal, he said.<\/p>\n
According to the ministry of agriculture, the skyrocketing
\nprices of feed meal have forced at least 80 percent of the
\ncountry's 17,600 poultry farmers out of business.<\/p>\n
Djoko said his company holds a 38 percent share of the
\ncountry's poultry feed meal market.<\/p>\n
The company operates five plants in Jakarta, West Java, East
\nJava and Medan in North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Djoko said the company's poultry breeder subsidiary PT Charoen
\nPokphand Jaya Farm (CPJF), has also reduced its production by 50
\npercent because of the lower demand.<\/p>\n
He said that CPJF produced only 125 million day-old chicks
\n(DOC) in 1998, halving its normal annual production capacity of
\n250 million DOC.<\/p>\n
Charoen Pokphand currently holds an 80 percent stake in CPJF.<\/p>\n
To compensate the lower domestic demand, Djoko said, CPJF
\nexported its DOC to Singapore and Malaysia in 1998, with the help
\nof the marketing network of the Charoen Pokphand Group of
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
Djoko said the company also opened a chicken slaughtering and
\nprocessing plant in Serang, West Java in early 1998, in a bid to
\ndiversify its business.<\/p>\n
The slaughter house, which has a production capacity of 4,000
\nfrozen chickens per hour, exports its products to the Middle
\nEast, Japan and Singapore, generating US$3.4 million in 1998.
\n(gis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/charoen-pokphand-cuts-feedmeal-output-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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