Duta Pertiwi's profit up

JAKARTA (JP): PT Duta Pertiwi Nusantara, a publicly-listed manufacturer of chemical products, yesterday reported an increase of 19 percent in its net profit to Rp 4.3 billion (US$1.8 million) last year and a 25 percent in sales to Rp 40.4 billion.

"Despite last year's unfavorable situation in the wood-based industry, our major customer, we could afford to sell 47,366 tons of chemical products, comprised of 214 tons of formaldehyde and 47,152 tons of glue," said company president Siang Hadi Widjaja.

He acknowledged that many Indonesian plywood companies, which use glue as an auxiliary material for production, faced difficulties in obtaining adequate supplies of logs last year.

"We expect a stronger performance this year in line with an expected recovery in the wood-based industry. Moreover, our joint venture plant with Chang Chun Plastic Co. Ltd of Taiwan will start to contribute to our export sales by the end of this year," Widjaja said.

"We will also take advantage of an expected increase in the country's production of medium density fiberboard (MDF) in the future," he added.

Duta Pertiwi currently has a capacity to produce 50,000 tons of formaldehyde per annum and 47,305 tons of several types of glues -- glue UF, glue UMF, glue PB, glue LEF, glue PF and glue PB UMF.

The company said in its annual report that its realized production of formaldehyde reached 35,029 tons last year and glue 47,305 tons. (alo)