yes, very sus indeed. there's a veritable land rush going on now with every man and his dog trying to get plantation land in kalimantan, sumatra and sulawesi, and the bupatis are in the middle of it all! they stand to make obscene amounts of money through "facilitation" fees and outright bribes. just at this moment i probably have at least 10 clients from china and india wanting to buy up and clear huge tracts of land for oil palm. am i also sleeping with the enemy?

 Originally Posted By: biznews Darwan was speaking after attending fire awareness training held by Agro Indomas, in cooperation with the ministry of forestry, the Indonesian Palm Oil Council, WWF Indonesia, Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOS) and Care International. Sleeping with the enemy, no?

At least two regencies in Central Kalimantan are waiting for approval from the Jakarta-based forestry ministry to convert some of their forest into industrial plantations, the regents say. The conversion -- most of it from former industrial forest concessions -- is meant to accommodate expansion plans from several palm oil companies, including Agro Indomas, Agro Bukit, Best Agro International Group, Wilmar Group and Sinar Mas Group, said the regent of Seruyan, Darwan Ali, last week.

Italy is expects to boost its exports to Indonesia by 12 percent this year, mainly driven by machinery and consumer products, an Italian trade commissioner says. "Although our machinery products, which are geared to the needs of the manufacturing industry, only account for 1 percent of our total exports, we're optimistic this niche will expand due to Indonesian economic growth," Angelo Infusino said at a seminar on Italian technology for manufacturing products on Tuesday.

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 06/19/2008 9:59 AM | Business With strong demand from its large population, Indonesia is among the fastest growing bakery markets in Asia, a study by the German Bakers' Confederation has found. The study forecasted that within the 2008-2012 period, the country's bakery market will grow by 24.35 percent, the fourth fastest in Asia, just below Vietnam with 48.26 percent, China with 37.63 percent and the Philippines with 34.4 percent.