Perhutani loses $49m through theft

Perhutani loses $49m through theft

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned forestry company Perum Perhutani
lost Rp 464.8 billion (US$49 million) worth of trees last year
because of widespread theft at its forestry concessions on Java.

Perhutani President Abas Ts told reporters on Wednesday that
some 2.3 million trees, mostly teakwood, were stolen during the
year, down from 2.6 million lost in 1999.

"Stealing has become rampant in the last two years," Abas said
during a media conference to announce the financial results of
his company.

He attributed the surge of thefts to the economic crisis,
which since 1997 had forced people who lost their jobs to resort
to crime, including stealing logs.

Perhutani last year made a pretax profit of Rp 356.9 billion
from total earnings of around Rp 1.9 trillion, he said, adding
that the figures were well above the targets of Rp 246.8 billion
for profit and Rp 1.7 trillion for earnings.

No corresponding figures for 1999 were immediately available.

Abas said revenues this year were targeted at Rp 1.8 trillion
and profit at Rp 290.9 billion. He did not disclose the reason
why the targets were lower than the results for 2000.

"We could have reaped more profit (in 2000) if illegal logging
was not as rampant," he said.

Perhutani last year retrieved 166,733 cubic meters of timber
worth an estimated Rp 79.3 billion through various operations to
combat theft, he said.

Abas said the thefts were well organized, and involved
insiders as well as police officers. On numerous occasions
thieves often disappeared before police arrived at the scene.

Management and the police have taken steps to contain the
problem, he added.

Perhutani handles management and conservation of 2,529,183
hectares of forests in Java, comprising 1.9 million hectares of
production forest and 606,367 hectares of protected forest.
State-controlled forests outside Java are being managed by PT
Inhutani. (03)