Tue, 11 Oct 2011

From: The Jakarta Post

By From: The Jakarta Post
PT Nestlé Indonesia announced on Monday that the company had no plans to invest US$200 million in cocoa plantations in Indonesia.

The statement was made following a news report published in www.thejakartapost.com sourced from Antara news agency on Friday about the firm’s investment plans, quoting Indonesian Cocoa Association (Askindo) chairman Zulhefi Sikumbang.

“PT Nestlé Indonesia does not have any plan to invest in a cocoa plantation, as plantation is not our core business. Nestlé does not have any plans to relocate any factory from Malaysia,” Nestle Indonesia public relation head Brata T. Hardjosubroto said in a statement made available to the Jakarta Post.

Nestlé Indonesia had reportedly earlier announced a planUSD 200 million plan to build a new factory in Karawang to produce MILO chocolate malt drink, CERELAC infant cereals and DANCOW milk powder products.

To fulfill its cocoa powder requirement, the company has launched the Cocoa Plan project in South and West Sulawesi last July to help the farmers improve the productivity and efficiency of their production.