State farming firms' pretax profits tumble

State farming firms' pretax profits tumble

JAKARTA (JP): Two groups of state firms overseen by the
Ministry of Agriculture last year suffered a drop in pretax
profits due to poor production, unsound marketing and unfavorable
weather, an official says.

Ministry Secretary General Soetatwo Hadiwigeno said yesterday
the profits of seasonal-crop and non-plantation state firms last
year dropped by 19.9 and 236.5 percent respectively.

The profits of seasonal-crop firms dropped from Rp 102.36
billion (US$44.50 million) in 1994 to Rp 81.95 billion last year,
while the group of non-plantation firms suffered a loss of Rp
4.07 billion last year after reaping a profit of Rp 2.98 billion
in 1994.

Plantation firms consist of companies managing annual-crops
and seasonal-crops, while non-plantation firms are those falling
outside these categories.

The Ministry of Agriculture currently manages 14 state
plantation companies, namely PT Perkebunan Nusantara I through to
XIV.

Last year the companies had not been merged and there were
still 32 firms -- PT Perkebunan I through to XXXII -- each of
which managed its own financial reports.

The government also oversees nine non-plantation firms: six
fishery companies (PT Usaha Mina, PT Tirta Raya Mina, PT PS
Besar, PT Perikani, Perum Perikanan Maluku and Perum PP
Samudera); one animal husbandry firm (PT BM Ternak); and two
food-crop firms (PT Pertani and Perum Sang Hyang Seri).

Soetatwo said that among the state firms which recorded losses
last year were Usaha Mina (Rp 5.7 billion in losses), Tirta Raya
Mina (Rp 828 million), Pertani (Rp 313 million), former PTP X (Rp
35 billion), former PTP XV and XVI (a combined loss of Rp 3.9
billion) and former PTP XX (Rp 7.2 billion).

Despite the decline in profits for some categories, Soetatwo
said the combined profits of all the ministry's state firms last
year increased by 48.1 percent, reaching Rp 776.1 billion.

He said the increase came from annual-crop firms whose profits
went up 66.75 percent from Rp 418.7 billion in 1994 to Rp 698.2
billion last year, reported Antara.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Agriculture projected its
non-plantation firms to reap Rp 8.2 billion in profits and its
plantation firms, Rp 523.3 billion.

Thus by the end of this year, it was expected that
agricultural state firms would have a combined pretax profit of
at least Rp 532.5 billion. (pwn)