Prasidha Aneka Niaga expects 9.36% profit rise
Prasidha Aneka Niaga expects 9.36% profit rise
JAKARTA (JP): PT Prasidha Aneka Niaga, a publicly listed
exporter of agricultural commodities, expects to book a 9.36
percent increase in its net profits to Rp 29.2 billion (US$12.43
million) this year from estimated total sales of Rp 792 billion.
"We foresee this year will be brighter than last year for our
company and subsidiaries," Prasidha Aneka's president, Mansjur
Tandiono, announced after his company's extraordinary
shareholders meeting yesterday.
Listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange in 1994 under the
classification of consumer goods industry, Prasidha Aneka's main
lines of business are in processing and trading of agricultural
commodities, including coffee, rubber particles, tapioca chips
and pellets, cocoa, pepper and vanilla.
Saying that this year's coffee harvest in Indonesia will be
very good, he estimated that his company will be able to increase
its coffee export by 20 percent to 100,000 tons this year. Coffee
accounted for more than 60 percent of the company's total sales
last year.
Last year the company's coffee exports were recorded to be
only 76,133 tons at an average price of $2.25.
Asked about the average price of coffee on the world market
this year, he said that he expects the price to decrease from
$2.25 per kilogram last year to $1.80 per kg this year.
"But the Association of Coffee Producing Countries changed its
retention system to an export program in its international
meeting recently in London. By the new system, coffee producing
countries will be free to export their produce to any market they
like," he said.
According to him, as a member of the Association of Coffee
Producing Countries, Indonesia last year was asked to put some
35,000 tons of its coffee production under an agreed retention
scheme, which required every producing country to retain a
portion of its coffee production and not export it. Of the 35,000
tons, some 8,000 tons were owned by Prasidha Aneka.
Prasidha Aneka's vice chief commissioner, Oesman Soedargo, who
is also the chairman of Association of Indonesian Coffee
Exporters, said that the Association of Coffee Producing
Countries' new export program will enable exporting companies
like Prasidha Aneka to expand their coffee sales.
"The profit increase of Prasidha Aneka this year will be
derived from expanding its coffee export," he said.
According to him, Indonesia's export of coffee this year will
amount to 360,000 tons.
Transformation
The extraordinary shareholders meeting approved the company's
program to transform its trading business into manufacturing food
products.
Mansjur said that his company in the near future will sign
cooperation agreements with companies of Japan, Australia and
China to process rubber, pepper and coffee.
On Thursday, Prasidha Aneka's subsidiary PT Aneka Bumi Pratama
will sign a memorandum of understanding with Itochu Corporation
of Japan to set up a joint venture company.
"This joint venture will build several rubber processing
plants in South Sumatra," he said. He did not elaborate.
However, he did say that total investment for the plants will
be Rp 8.2 billion. "Aneka Bumi Pratama will have a stake of 51
percent in the joint venture, while the Japanese company will own
49 percent," he said.
He said that his company will also set up a coffee-processing
plant in China to produce instant coffee, but he refused to
mention the amount of investment and production in the country.
"Can you imagine if only 10 percent of China's 1.2 billion
population drank our coffee every morning?. The market there
holds a bright prospect for us," he concluded. (13)