Pulp exports to surge this year<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Thanks to steadily rising prices, Indonesian
\npulp producers are expecting a major increase in export revenues
\nto about US$2 billion this year, an executive said.<\/p>\n
\"This year we expect to export approximately 750,000 tons of
\npulp, worth about $2 billion, as compared to last year's 200,000
\ntons valued at about $700 million,\" Suresh Kilam, an executive of
\nthe Indonesian Pulp and Paper Association, told reporters on
\nThursday night.<\/p>\n
The executive's statement means that the commodity's price
\nwill continue to experience a major resurrection from $380 per
\nton in 1993, when the value of Indonesia's pulp exports reached
\n$39.04 million only.<\/p>\n
Kilam, concurrently managing director of the listed pulp
\ncompany PT Indah Kiat Pulp & Paper, said that the increase in
\nthis year's pulp export revenues was mostly driven by the
\nescalating pulp prices, currently reaching $1,130 per ton.<\/p>\n
Industry analysts have said that pulp prices will likely
\ncontinue to rise in the next two years.<\/p>\n
The executive said that prices of pulp tend to fluctuate
\nbecause of uncertainty in the movement of demand by non-
\nintegrated paper mills, or those which do not make their own
\npulp, throughout the world.<\/p>\n
Non-integrated paper mills' demand accounts for about 11
\npercent of the world's total demand estimated at around 265
\nmillion tons.<\/p>\n
Kilam also said that export earnings from pulp will soon
\nreplace plywood as Indonesia's major foreign currency earner
\nafter textiles.<\/p>\n
Figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics show that during
\nthe first 10 months of last year, textile exports reached $4.76
\nbillion and plywood exports $4.35 billion.<\/p>\n
Production<\/p>\n
Kilam also confirmed various evaluations saying that Indonesia
\nwill become one of the ten largest pulp producing and fifteen
\npaper producing countries in the world in the next two years.<\/p>\n
\"We have major investments coming up. Companies like Barito
\nPacific Timber, Kiani Lestari and Raja Garuda Mas will all soon
\nmake a presence in pulp or expand production if they are already
\nin the industry,\" he said.<\/p>\n
An official of the Ministry of Industry said last year that
\nIndonesia plans to hike the annual production capacity of pulp by
\n200 percent to 3.9 million tons and paper by 10.2 percent to 4.3
\nmillion tons in the coming five years.<\/p>\n
Data from the Investment Coordinating Board states that Raja
\nGaruda Mas, owner of the listed pulp maker Inti Indorayon, will
\nset up another mill in Sumatra with a capacity to produce 600,000
\ntons per year.<\/p>\n
Plywood giant Barito Pacific will soon team up with Marubeni
\nCorp. of Japan to set up a $1 billion plant capable of producing
\n450,000 tons of pulp annually.<\/p>\n
The data also shows that Indah Kiat will expand the annual
\nproduction capacity of its pulp mill in Sumatra to 870,000 tons
\nfrom its current level of 400,000 tons.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's total existing annual pulp production capacity is
\naround 800,000 tons, so far catering to only about one percent of
\nthe world's pulp demand, which is dominated by Canada, the United
\nStates and Finland. (hdj)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pulp-exports-to-surge-this-year-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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