RI, Japan firms join hands to produce coffee

RI, Japan firms join hands to produce coffee

JAKARTA (JP): The Palembang-based PT Prasidha Aneka Niaga, a
company listed on the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock Exchanges,
signed a joint venture agreement yesterday with two Japanese
corporations and another domestic firm to produce instant and
ground coffee in Surabaya, East Java.

Under the agreement, the joint venture, named PT Aneka Coffee
Industry, will be 65 percent owned by Prasidha, 20 percent by
Itochu Corporation of Japan, 10 percent by PT Citrabuana
Tunggalperkasa and the remaining five percent by UCC Ueshima
Coffee Co. Ltd. of Japan, Prasidha's president, Mansjur Tandiono,
said at the ceremony for the signing of the agreement.

The venture, with an authorized capital of Rp 50 billion
(US$22.60 million) and a paid-up capital of Rp 37 billion, is
expected to produce 3,600 tons of instant coffee and 2,400 tons
of ground coffee per annum, he said.

"For the purpose, we will construct an integrated coffee plant
in Surabaya at a cost of Rp 30 billion in June," he said.

The plant is expected to be on stream early next year, he
added.

He said that around 80 percent of the plant's production will
be exported to Japan, the United States and Europe, while the
remaining 20 percent will be sold on the domestic market.

Mansjur said that Citrabuana will supply Arabica and Robusta
coffee beans for the plant from its 6,000 hectares of plantations
in East Java.

"We will also buy coffee beans from other local producers in
South Sumatra, Lampung and North Sumatra," he said.

In processing coffee, that the venture will use technology
from Ueshima, a company which is the fifth biggest producer of
instant and ground coffee in the world, he said.

"We will also tap Ueshima's distribution networks in Japan and
other countries for marketing our coffee," he said.

Ueshima, established in Kobe in 1933, now deals with the
processing of coffee, black tea and cocoa with total sales of
over 200 billion yen a year.

Yesterday's agreement was signed by Mansjur, Masayoshi
Fujiwara of Itochu, Tatsushi Ueshima of Ueshima and Hutama
Sugandhi of Citrabuana.(fhp)