Bogasari raises flour output

JAKARTA (JP): To anticipate a greater flour demand during the Idul Fitri holiday season, the country's largest flour producer, PT ISM Bogasari Flour Mills, has been increasing its output, a company director said Saturday in Surabaya, East Java.

The director, Franciscus Welirang, said that in the last week, Bogasari has upped its flour production by 30 percent from 10,000 tons per day to 13,000 tons.

Welirang said that because flour supplies are adequate, prices are expected to be stable prior to the holiday season in the first half of February. He does not therefore expect to see consumers queuing to buy flour as has happened in previous years.

Antara quoted Welirang as saying that Bogasari meets 88 percent of the country's monthly flour demand of about 250,000 tons. The balance is supplied by PT Berdikari in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.

Bogasari operates a flour plant in Jakarta with a production capacity of 10,000 tons per day and another one in Surabaya with a daily capacity of 5,000 tons.

Of the country's total flour consumption, 25 percent to 30 percent is used in the production of wet noodles, 18 percent to 19 percent for instant noodles, 12.5 percent for bread and the remainder for other food. (10)