Conglomerates' sales dominant in GDP

Conglomerates' sales dominant in GDP

JAKARTA (JP): The total sales of the country's 300 business conglomerates reached over Rp 144.4 trillion (US$64.9 billion) in 1993, accounting for 43.7 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around Rp 329.7 trillion in the same year.

The Indonesian Business Data Center recorded the sales of the business conglomerates at nearly 80 percent above the Rp 82 trillion registered by state-owned companies.

However, the conglomerates' assets, which reached Rp 227.3 trillion, were still far lower than Rp 267 trillion registered by the state-owned companies.

The business data center said in its latest study that the Salim Group was the largest conglomerate in terms of marketing in 1993, with sales totaling Rp 16.63 trillion.

The Sinar Mas Group, a business conglomerate controlled by Eka Tjipta Widjaja, was ranked second with a sales turnover of Rp 6.18 trillion, followed by Astra International with sales of Rp 4.67 trillion.

Gudang Garam, the country's largest cigarette producer, was in fourth place with sales of Rp 4.05 trillion, while the timber- based Barito Group, with sales of Rp 3.8 trillion, was in the fifth slot, the Lippo Group, with sales of Rp 3.24 trillion, in the sixth and textile-based Argo Manunggal, with sales of Rp 3 trillion, in seventh place.

Mohamad (Bob) Hasan's business group with sales of Rp 2.80 trillion was in eighth place, Djarum Group with sales of Rp 2.53 trillion in ninth place and the Dharmala Group with sales of Rp 2.4 trillion in the 10th place.

The business data center said that state-owned companies controlled around 75 percent of the market of 22 products in the public utilities, upstream, capital-intensive industries and a number of commodities such as sugar, steel and fertilizer.

Independent companies -- business entities, which are not affiliated to any business group, multi-national firm or state- owned company -- were, unexpectedly, able to control over 75 percent of the 14 commodities in the agricultural sector. (hen)