Floods hit Sumatra rubber factories, plantations<\/p>\n
Grace Nirang, Reuters, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Floods have inundated some rubber factories and plantations in
\nIndonesia's top rubber growing area of North Sumatra, destroying
\nstocks and disrupting supplies, industry sources said on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
Flooding triggered by days of torrential rains hit North
\nSumatra in the last week, leaving at least three people dead and
\nforcing thousands more to flee their homes, officials said.<\/p>\n
"Many rubber factories, mostly those located along rivers,
\nwith their rubber stocks are inundated," Suharto Honggokusumo,
\nexecutive director of the Indonesian Rubber Association
\n(Gapkindo), told Reuters.<\/p>\n
"They are suffering a big loss because the rubber stocks
\naffected have to be reprocessed, not to mention the damage of
\ntheir equipment. We are still assessing the damage," he said,
\nadding that Gapkindo's members in North Sumatra met on Thursday
\nto discuss the damage.<\/p>\n
One rubber trader in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, said
\nheavy rains had forced tappers to halt activities.<\/p>\n
"I think these floods can halve this month's output," the
\ntrader told Reuters from Medan, some 1,425 (885 miles) northwest
\nof Jakarta.<\/p>\n
North Sumatra is Indonesia's biggest producing area of rubber
\nand palm oil. It also produces coffee and cocoa.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is the world's second largest producer of rubber and
\npalm oil, the third for cocoa and the fourth for coffee.<\/p>\n
The floods have also disrupted transportation from plantations
\nto processing plants and made oil palm fresh fruit bunches wet
\nand mouldy.<\/p>\n
"The roads are full of mud...trucks bringing fresh fruit
\nbunches cannot reach processing plants while those from plants
\ncannot go to port. The heavy rains and high seas have also
\ndisrupted shipments," Derom Bangun, chairman of the Indonesian
\nPalm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI), told Reuters.<\/p>\n
Officials at Belawan, the main palm oil export port, said
\nshipments had been disrupted after a dredger sank at the port due
\nto high seas.<\/p>\n
"The dredger is blocking the entrance to the port. We are
\ntrying our best to move it but it is difficult because of the
\nhigh seas," Belawan administrator Tampa Napitupulu told Reuters
\nfrom the port near Medan.<\/p>\n
Palm oil traders in Medan said some export shipments to China
\nand Europe were halted because vessels could not enter the port.<\/p>\n
"Big ships cannot anchor at the port. Some exporters are
\nthinking of using small ships to bring the oil to the bigger
\nships outside Belawan," one palm oil trader in Medan said.<\/p>\n
Coffee traders said rains and floods so far have had no big
\nimpact on coffee trees since the arabica harvest in the province
\nhas ended last month and flowering for the next harvest has not
\nstarted.<\/p>\n
"The market is also very quiet because of New Year, no
\nshipments so far," one trader said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/floods-hit-sumatra-rubber-factories-plantations-1447893297",
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