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)