As a country rich with natural resources, Indonesia is adapting to the soaring commodity prices with the hope to balance increasing profits while securing supplies for the domestic market. One commodity seeing rapid growth globally is crude palm oil (CPO), mostly driven by demand from biofuel producers, rather than cooking oil producers. In a bid to secure domestic supplies, the government implemented a progressive export tax in January for the commodity to keep up with increasing prices.

Already under threat of a fiscal calamity amid soaring oil prices and unrealistic government fuel subsidy spending, Indonesia is expected to miss this year's oil production target of 977,000 barrels per day (bpd), the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said. The ministry announced in a media statement over the weekend the country would only produce 965,000 bpd, 12,000 bpd short of its target, as some oil producing companies revised down their output targets.

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Indonesian publicly-traded construction company PT Ciputra Development (JSX:CTRA) said it will build luxury homes worth Rp10 trillion (US$1.1 billion) in Palembang and Balikpapan. The company has secured lands totaling 200 hectare in Palembang and 23 hectares in Balikpapan for the locations of the project.

Bangkok (ANTARA News) - If Asian-Pacific governments follow a more sustainable energy paradigm they can shave 766 billion dollars off the estimated 9 trillion dollars needed to improve their energy infrastructure by 2030, a United Nations report concluded Monday.

I assumed it was officials with inside knowledge acquiring the desired land then negotiating a sale at vastly inflated rates.

What is the definition of land speculation?

Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Sunday asked public and government officials to fight land speculators who have impeded the development of infrastructure facilities in the country. "The fight is against the land speculators who are disrupting the development of infrastructure facilities," he said when inaugurating a number of infrastructure projects in East Java.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State-owned electricity company (PLN) is considering imposing a sanction on suppliers who delay their coal supplies to PLN, its president director Fahmi Mochtar said. "A fine will be imposed as part of efforts to remind them on the importance of their responsibility for uninterrupted national electricity supply," the PLN president director said when attending a function here on Sunday.

Denpasar (ANTARA News) - Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik predicted that the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia in the next couple of months will increase by 30 percent compared to last year`s rate of increase. He therefore expressed optimism that projected seven million foreign tourists could be reached, he said after dedicating a huge billboard on Visit Indonesia Year 2008 at the Ngurah Rai airport in Bali on Sunday.

Sydney (ANTARA News) - Australian base metals miner Oxiana Ltd. said on Monday it has received final approval from Indonesian authorities for the Martabe gold project in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra. A constriction permit had been issued by the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources, the company told Thomson Financial. The mine will be Oxiana's first operation in Indonesia where it is actively pursuing other exploration and development opportunities.

The city mining agency will soon audit businesses that use both groundwater and tap water, agency head Peni Susanti said Wednesday. She said 3,655 businesses held agency-issued permits to use groundwater, 70 percent of which also had artesian wells. "We don't know whether those 70 percent use more water from their artesian wells than they do tap water," she said.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian exports probably bounced back in March, after dropping slightly in February, helped by stronger oil and gas prices, economists said over the weekend. Exports stood at $10.53 billion in February, down 5 percent from the all-time high of $11.09 billion hit in January, but were up 28.5 percent from a year before. Eight out of 10 economists polled by Thomson Financial are expecting exports in March to come in between $10.66 billion and $11.62 billion.