Bakrie to build two CPO plants
Bakrie to build two CPO plants
JAKARTA (JP): Plantation firm PT Bakrie Sumatra Plantation
(BSP) said on Tuesday it planned to build two new crude palm oil
(CPO) plants in Sumatra worth a total of US$12.3 million in joint
ventures with two Singaporean and Malaysian firms.
Company president Ambono Janurianto said the company had
signed an agreement with the Singaporean firm to build a $5.3
million CPO plant in Tanjung Jabung Barat, Jambi, while its
subsidiary -- PT Agrowiyana -- was negotiating with the Malaysian
firm to build a $7 million CPO plant in Kisaran, North Sumatra.
He said the Singaporean and Malaysian firms would provide the
funds for the construction of the plants, while BSP and
Agrowiyana would provide land.
He refused, however, to identify the Singaporean and Malaysian
firms.
"The Jambi plant will have a production capacity of 360,000
tons a year, while the Kisaran plant will have a capacity of
about 240,000 tons a year," he told reporters after an annual
shareholders general meeting.
Ambono said construction of the Jambi plant was expected to
start in July or August this year, while the building of the
Kisaran factory was expected to commence in August or September
this year.
"We hope to complete the new plants in 18 months (the end of
2002 or the beginning of 2003)," he said.
Today, BSP has only one CPO plant, located in Pasaman, West
Sumatra, which belongs to its subsidiary PT Bakri Pasaman
Plantation. It also operates a cooking oil refinery in Karawang,
West Java owned by PT Kilang Vecolina.
BSP and its subsidiaries Bakrie Pasaman and Agrowiyana, now
operate a total of 29,000 hectares of palm oil plantations in
Pasaman, Kisaran, Tanjung Jabung Barat.
Aside from palm oil, BSP also operates a 15,500 hectare rubber
plantation in Kisaran.
Ambono said BSP was increasing the capacity of its Pasaman
plant by 50 percent to 270,000 tons from 180,000 tons a year.
"We have expanded our production to anticipate the growing
demand of CPO derivative products in the local and export market
in the future," he said.
He said the expansion was aimed to anticipate growing demands
in China and India.
Ambono said, at present, the company only supplied CPO and its
derivative products for the domestic market as the prices were
higher than the export prices, but he did not rule out the
possibility of raising exports in the future.
He said CPO and its derivative products accounted for about 45
percent of BSP's total sales last year, while rubber, which was
mainly for exports, accounted for the remaining 55 percent.
Company consolidated sales rose 23 percent to Rp 357.9 billion
last year from Rp 289.9 billion in 1999, but it suffered a net
loss of Rp 194 billion in 2000 as against Rp 6.4 billion a year
earlier.
BSP attributed the increase in net loss last year due to a
high foreign exchange loss of Rp 224 billion.
The company projected its sales to increase 4 percent to Rp
372 billion this year, while net loss will decline 45 percent to
Rp 105 billion.
Ambono said that the projection was based on the estimation
that the CPO price would remain stable at current levels of about
$210 a ton and the price of rubber would be about 53 U.S. cents a
kilogram. (05)