Two major groups announced plans last week to pump a total of $345 million into oil palm plantation expansion.<\/p>\n
PT Charindo Palma Plantations (CPP), a unit of Thailand\u2019s Charoen Pokphand group, plans to invest $280 million after starting the planting of seedlings in its new plantations, Asia Pulse reported Tuesday (11\/3\/08).<\/p>\n
The additional investment will be needed to expand plantations under its three subsidiaries - PT Satria Multi Sukses, PT Charindo Palma Oetanma and PT Airlangga Sawit Jaya -- which have 67,500 hectares of oil palm plantations in West Kalimantan.
\nJunaidi Sungkono, president of CPP, said the first planting in the three plantations had already cost more than $100 million.<\/p>\n
Additional investment of $100 million will be needed by Satria Multi Sukses, which has the largest plantation of 29,000 hectares. The other two will need $90 million each.<\/p>\n
PT Sampoerna Agro said Friday it plans to spend Rp600 billion ($65.14 million) to acquire 15,000 hectares (37,070 acres) of plantation for palm oil this year, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
Finance director Eddy Kurniawan said the company planned to use its internal resources to fund the expansion although he did not rule out seeking loans from banks.<\/p>\n
\"The expansion is likely to be in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, although we have not decided the exact place,\" Kurniawan said.<\/p>\n
The company produced 1.18 million tons of crude palm oil last year and aims to increase this slightly to 1.2 million tons.<\/p>\n
He said the company's budget assumed a crude palm oil price of $950 a ton, far below the current market price of around $1,200 a ton.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/major-groups-to-expand-palm-plantations-1205902211", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }