Astra Agro crude palm oil sales up

Astra Agro crude palm oil sales up

JAKARTA: Indonesia's PT Astra Agro Lestari said on Tuesday its sales of crude palm oil rose 4 percent on year in the first quarter.

Astra Agro sold 178,050 metric tons of CPO in the January to March period, compared with 170,743 tons in the same period last year, the company said on its website.

However, the company's exports dropped 52 percent in the first quarter to 39,594 tons, from 82,101 tons in the first quarter of 2004, on stronger domestic demand.

Its local CPO sales rose 56 percent to 138,457 tons in the first quarter, compared with 88,642 tons in the same period last year. During the January to March period, Astra Agro's average selling price fell 18 percent to Rp 3,156 a kilogram compared with Rp 3,863/kg because of weakening world soyoil and CPO prices. -- Dow Jones