Itochu Corporation joins Prasedha's rubber subsidiary

JAKARTA (JP): PT Aneka Bumi Pratama, a subsidiary of publicly listed PT Prasidha Aneka Niaga, signed here yesterday a joint venture agreement with Itochu Corporation of Japan to increase its crumb rubber production capacity from 70,000 tons at present to 90,000 tons per year.

"Itochu will have a 49 percent stake and Aneka Bumi Pratama the remaining 51 percent in the joint venture company," Prasidha Aneka Niaga's president, Mansjur Tandiono, told the press after the signing ceremony.

He noted that the joint venture, which will complete construction of the new plant next year, will have Rp 16.7 billion (US$7.11 million) in paid-up capital.

Mansjur estimated that the increase in rubber production will contribute to an increase in his company's total sales, from the current 24 percent to 30 percent.

Last year, the Prasidha Group derived about 60 percent of its total sales from coffee exports.

Aneka Bumi Pratama is one of nine subsidiaries of Prasidha Aneka Niaga, which has main businesses in the processing and trading of agricultural commodities. These include coffee, crumb rubber, tapioca chips and pellets, cacao, pepper and vanilla.

Prasidha Aneka Niaga, which was listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange in October 1994, saw its net profits down by 9.3 percent to Rp 26.76 billion last year. But the trading company decided to pay dividends of Rp 110 per share for its 1995 operation.

K. Shohata, the general manager of Itochu Corporation, said that the joint venture will be developed in stages.

"First, we will increase the production capacity to 90,000 tons per year. After that, we'll set up new factories in other areas of Indonesia. We will also be exploring the possibility of developing our own rubber plantations," he said.

Currently, Aneka Bumi Pratama procures its rubber raw materials from its smallholders in South Sumatra.

Itochu Corporation, which claims to be the third largest trading company in Japan after Mitsubishi and Mitsui, has also clinched a deal with the Prasidha Group to establish tuna and coffee processing plants in East Java. (13)