Indonesia vows to hike pulp and paper production

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia plans to hike the annual production capacity of pulp by 200 percent to 3.9 million tons and paper production by 10.2 percent to 4.3 million tons in the coming five years, an official says.

"We project that the prices for pulp will keep rising until the end of this century. This is the time to invest in pulp plants," the director for pulp and paper industries at the Ministry of Industry, Gatot Ibnusantosa, said in a seminar here yesterday.

"In the near future, Indonesia will be a major pulp and paper producer in Asia," he added.

The country produced 1.3 million tons of pulp and 2.5 million tons of paper last year, while its pulp exports reached about 120,000 tons worth US$39.04 million and paper exports 680,000 tons valued at $413.64 million.

Gatot explained that the pulp capacity expansion in the coming five years will be supported by the construction of six new pulp projects and one expansion project.

PT Riau Andalan Pulp & Paper will set up a pulp plant in Riau with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons, PT Intan Prima Cellulose in Riau with a capacity of 200,000 tons, PT Wirakarya Sakti in Jambi with a capacity of 330,000 tons, PT Tanjung Enim/Barito Pacific in South Sumatra with a capacity of 350,000 tons, PT Tanjung Redep in East Kalimantan with a capacity of 350,000 tons and PT Fajar Surya Swadaya in East Kalimantan with a capacity of 300,000 tons.

The expansion project is expected to be carried out by PT Indah Kiat in Riau, which will increase its annual capacity by 400,000 to 870,000 tons.

Utilization

Gatot also said the country's annual per capita utilization of paper is expected to increase from nine kilograms at present to about 16 kilograms in the next five years.

"We expect that paper demand will grow by 10 percent every year," he said.

This is why the government has approved the completion of five new paper mills to produce cultural paper this year, he said.

The mills will be constructed by PT Triguna Pratama Abadi in West Java with an annual capacity of 3,600 tons, by PT Indohafidzco in West Java with a capacity of 3,000 tons, by PT Gede Karang in West Java with a capacity of 54,000 tons by PT Java Paper Industries in East Java with a capacity of 63,000 tons and by PT West Kalindo in West Kalimantan with a capacity of 3,000 tons.

On top of those new mills, the government also expects four paper plant expansion projects to be completed in the coming four years.

Gatot explained that PT Indah Kiat will expand the annual capacity of its industrial paper plant to 800,000 tons by 1996 from 300,000 tons, PT Sinar Hoperindo its tissue plant in West Java to 30,000 tons by 1996 from 3000 tons, PT Kertas Kraft its cement paper bag plant in Aceh to 165,000 tons by 1997 from 135,000 and PT Kertas Padalarang its print paper plant in West Java to 13.600 tons by 1998 from 7,900 tons. (hdj)