Barito reports fire

JAKARTA (JP): Fire has damaged one of PT Barito Pacific Timber's wood mills on Mangole Island in Maluku, forcing its blockboard plant to cut production by 1,000 cubic meters a month.

Barito Pacific, a publicly-listed company controlled by Prajogo Pangestu, announced yesterday that the fire hit one of the mills owned by PT Mangole Timber Producers on July 21.

The company expects the damaged dry-kiln equipment to be repaired within three months so the blockboard plant can resume normal production.

Barito Pacific said the production of plywood and other processed wood at Mangole Timber was not affected by the fire.

The company also assured its shareholders that the cut in blockboard production at Mangole would not affect the total output of the Barito Pacific Group because it can be offset by the mills owned by other Barito subsidiaries.

The Barito Pacific Group, which controls plywood and blockboard plants in Kalimantan, South Sumatra and Maluku, is the country's largest single producer of plywood. (04)