Indonesia Business & Trade updates

11 Reports:
(courtesy Joyo News Service)
- Four Indonesia Cos To Issue $1.5B In Bonds After Apr- CIMB-GK
- Indo Finance Indonesia Offers Bonds Valued At $45 Mln
- Indonesia's Federal International Finance plans bond
- JP: State firms to see profit lower by 6.6 percent this year
- Allianz Indonesia Posts Increase In Premium Income
- Indonesian Fin Min Freezes 2 Co's Licenses On Reporting Failures
- Indonesian Exports Of Non-Oil Commodities Predicted To Shrink 20%
- Indonesia's Furniture Exports Predicted To Rise 19%
- Indonesia's Industrial Growth Expected To Slow: Official
- Indonesian Govt Cancels Plan To Import Sugar
- Mandala Cooperates With Singapore Tourism Board
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Four Indonesia Cos To Issue $1.5B In Bonds After Apr- CIMB-GK
JAKARTA, March 12 (Dow Jones)--Four top Indonesian companies are planning to issue a total of more than $1.5 billion in both rupiah and dollar bonds after April's parliamentary elections, a senior executive at CIMB-GK Securities Indonesia said Thursday.
"Of the four, state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara has already mandated us to underwrite its bond issue," CIMB-GK President Director Bernard Thien told reporters. Thien said that his company is bidding to underwrite the other three offerings.
PLN is planning to issue IDR3 trillion ($250 million) in rupiah bonds and IDR7 trillion worth of dollar bonds. Of the other three, cement maker PT Semen Gresik (SMGR.JK) and PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BBNI.JK) will each issue $300 million in dollar bonds, while food company Indofood Sukses Makmur (INDF.JK) will issue IDR1.5 trillion in rupiah bonds.
"I believe that more companies will issue bonds if the parliamentary elections" run smoothly, Thien added.
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Indo Finance Indonesia Offers Bonds Valued At $45 Mln
JAKARTA, March 12 Asia Pulse - PT Indomobil Finance Indonesia (IFI) is offering bonds valued at Rp500 billion (US$45 million) in three series with fixed coupon rates ranging from 12.74 per cent to 16.66 per cent. The financing subsidiary of car distributor PTIndomobil Sukses Internasional said it will use the fund to strengthen its financing capacity and to refinance debts to banks. IFI President Jusak Kertowidjojo said the company has named PT Danareksa Sekuritas and PT Kresna Graha Sekurindo as the
underwriters.
Book building will take place from March 11 to 25 and offering from April 14 to 16, the newspaper Investor Daily said. The bonds in A, B and C series, respectively maturing in a year, two years and three years will be listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange on April 22.
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Indonesia's Federal International Finance plans bond
JAKARTA, March 12 (Reuters) - Indonesian motorcycle financing firm, PT Federal International Finance (FIF) plans to raise 600 billion rupiah ($50.12 million) from a bond sale in April to use for working capital, the company said on Thursday. PT Indo Premier Securities, PT Kresna Graha Sekurindo and PT Trimegah Securities have been appointed to underwrite the bonds, which will be offered between March 18-April 3, it said in a prospectus published in Bisnis Indonesia newspaper.
Federal -- owned by PT Astra International Tbk , the country's largest automotive distributor -- said the bonds would be divided into three series with maturities ranging from 370 days to 36 months. The company, which mainly provides financing for Honda, had not yet decided the coupon rate for the bonds.
Indonesia's benchmark interest rate has fallen to 7.75 percent from 9.25 at the end of last year, which could encourage more consumers to turn to financing companies to pay for new cars and motorcycles. After breaking sales records last year, Indonesia's annual
domestic vehicle and motorcycle sales dropped in January, by 23.5 percent and 22 percent respectively, as Southeast Asia's biggest economy slowed. Federal said its motorcycle financing last year rose about 16.7 percent to 11.9 trillion rupiah. ($1 = 11,970 rupiah) (Reporting by Dicky Kristanto; Editing by Ed Davies)
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The Jakarta Post [website]
March 12, 2009
State firms to see profit lower by 6.6 percent this year - The Jakarta Post
The government announced Thursday that the accumulated net profit of state firms would come to Rp 70 trillion by the end of this year ordown by 6.6 percent from what it was last year.
“The net profit will be lower compared to last year as a result of the global economic crisis,” Secretary to State Minister for State Enterprises Said Didu said in Jakarta as quoted by Antara news agency. He said oil and gas producer PT Pertamina would remain as the biggest contributor, followed by telecommunication provider PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and four state banks: Mandiri, BRI, BNI and BTN.
Pertamina is expected to come up with up to Rp 20 trillion in net profit this year,
The decline in net profit, Said said, would translate into Rp 26.1 trillion in total state earnings from dividends, lower than Rp 31.1 trillion gained last year. The operational costs of a total of 138 state firms is expected to reach Rp 836.34 trillion, lower than Rp 962 trillion last year, while the total capital expenditures of the firms likely to amount to Rp 152.05 trillion, up from Rp 128.32 trillion last year.
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Allianz Indonesia Posts Increase In Premium Income
JAKARTA, March 12 Asia Pulse - Insurance company Allianz Indonesia posted Rp3.7 trillion (US$336 million) in premium income in 2008, up from Rp3.4 trillion in the previous year. Its life insurance unit PT Allianz LifeIndonesia contributed Rp2.9 trillion to the income, up from Rp2.7 trillion in the previous year. PT Allianz Utama Indonesia , a general insurance company , contributed only Rp776 billion, up 15 per cent from the previous year, Allianz Life President Jens Reisch said
Reisch said Allianz Life and Allianz Utama both recorded profits respectively amounting to Rp128.8 billion and Rp43.8 billion in 2008 . Alliance Life has risk based capital (RBC) of 306 per cent and Allianz Utama 162 per cent radiating healthy financial condition, he was quoted as saying.
RBC, which is set at least 120 per cent by the government, is capital needed to cover risks of default, cash flow mismatch, currency mismatch, claims worse than expected and insufficient premium.
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Indonesian Fin Min Freezes 2 Co's Licenses On Reporting Failures
JAKARTA, March 12 Asia pulse - Indonesia's finance minister has frozen the business licenses of PT. Survindo Putra Pratama and PT. Aprestama Swakarya Perdana for a period of six months starting January 27, 2009. The decision was based on three warnings to the companies over the past 36 months, but the companies continued to commit
violations. The companies were sanctioned because they had failed to submit reports on their business activities, financial statements, and employment of expatriates in 2007.
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Indonesian Exports Of Non-Oil Commodities Predicted To Shrink 20%
JAKARTA, March 12 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's exports of commodities other than oil and gas are forecast to shrink 20 per cent this year as against a 17.6 per cent increase to US$107.8 billion last year, an official said. The country, however, will continue to be favored with trade surplus as imports are also expected to decline by around 23 per cent, a director at the National Development Coordinating Board Bambang Prijambodo predicted.
"With the world's economy expected to grow only 0.5 per cent this year demand in the world market will decline," Bambang said, adding the impact on Asia of the global crisis is worse than previously predicted . He said the fiscal stimulus of Rp73.3 trillion (US$6.6 billion) for this year is not sufficient cope with the impact of the global economic slowdown. He called on the people to use locally produced products to prevent bankruptcy of the domestic industry .
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Indonesia's Furniture Exports Predicted To Rise 19%
JAKARTA, March 12 Asia Pulse - Indonesian Industry Minister Fahmi Idris predicted the country's exports of furniture and handicraft will reach US$3 billion or an increase of 19 per cent from last year amid the world economic recession. In the past five years , the country's exports of wooden and rattan furniture grew only 2.34 per cent annually on the average to reach US$2.52 billion last year, Fahmi said. The target this year could be achieved as supplies of wood needed by furniture industry would be better guaranteed after the operation of wood terminals planned by the government, he said.
The government plans to build wood terminals in various areas in Java, Sulawesi and Papua to facilitate supplies of wood to domestic industries , the newspaper Investor Daily said. In addition, the government has offered incentive in the form of abolition of value added tax (VAT) on furniture, Fahmi said. (ANTARA)
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Indonesia's Industrial Growth Expected To Slow: Official
JAKARTA, March 12 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's industrial sector was expected to grow only between 2.5 and 3 per cent this year, Secretary general of the Ministry of Industry Agus Tjahajana said.
"We have projected industrial growth at 2.5 to 3.5 per cent only, down from about 5 - 7.5 per cent in previous years. This is due to the impact of the global financial crisis," Yjahajana said here on Wednesday. He said the sub-sector to be affected most was the export-based one. He said about 70 per cent of textiles were usually exported while the remaining 30 per cent were for domestic demand.
About 50-60 per cent of shoes were exported and the rest sold in the domestic market.
Tjahajana said that not all of export-based products would collapse because of the big potentials of market at home that could serve as an alternative market.
"Some friends said about 10 per cent of their production was affected while others say 20 per cent. Those who diversify their products soon, can survive but those who do not will face difficulties," he said. He expressed his hope that industry at home would be effective
and efficient so that their products would be competitive. After all, the secretary general said, there were many ports which served as entry points for illegal goods into Indonesia.
These illegal goods sell cheaper than domestically produced commodities that made them less competitive. "Our weakness is that we have thousands of ports which are prone to smuggled goods," he added.
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Indonesian Govt Cancels Plan To Import Sugar
JAKARTA, March 12 Asia pulse - The Indonesian government has canceled its plan to import 100,000-150,000 tons of crystal white sugar as national sugar stocks are still enough to meet domestic demand, a government official said.
"The decision to cancel the sugar import was taken yesterday," Director General for Agro Industry, Chemicals and Forest Products, Benny Wachjudi said on the sidelines of an International Furniture & Craft Fair Indonesia (IFFINA) 2009, here on Wednesday. He said that the decision was taken at a coordination meeting between the trade ministry, agriculture ministry and the chief economic minister on Tuesday night. Wachjudi said that the government called for the release of sugar stocks in an effort to offset the increasing price of sugar at the consumers' level.
"There are still some 500,000 tons of stocks. If the stocks are all of a sudden absorbed by the market, we will take other steps but the existing stocks should be released first," he said.
The director general said that the auction price at the farmers' level of Rp5,200-Rp5,300 (US$0.43-44) per kg was still relatively reasonable. Previously, the ministry of trade prepared an option of importing 100,000 - 150,000 tons of sugar due to increasing price of sugar in the country. In the meantime, market operation conducted by state-owned
plantation company PTPN II in Sumatra is not effective because this had been conducted by PTPN II only. The average price of sugar on March 10, 2009 was Rp7,901 per kg, or an increase of Rp42 per kg compared with the average price in the first week of March 2009 standing at Rp7,859 per kg. The average price of sugar over the last two weeks in March is
Rp7,866 per kg or an increase of Rp364 per kg compared with the average price of the commodity in February which stood at Rp7,502 per kg.
The highest price was recorded in Jayapura (Papua) and Ternate (North Maluku) at Rp9,000 per kg while the lowest at Rp7,000 per kg in Mamuju.
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Mandala Cooperates With Singapore Tourism Board
SURABAYA, March 12 Asia Pulse - Indonesian airline Mandala has established cooperation with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in providing services and an new experience to Indonesians visiting the island republic through Batam. President Director of Mandala Airlines, Diono Nurjadin, said the cooperation gets the support of 84 weekly flights to Batam (arrivals and departures).
"With two daily scheduled flights from Jakarta to Batam, and one daily flight from Medan, Padang, Surabaya, and Pekanbaru," he said in a press release received by ANTARA Wednesday night. He said the cooperation is between three parties, namely Mandala, STB, and Batamfast. He hoped the cooperation could boost the tourism industry and relations between the two countries.
"By flying with the latest and modern aircraft Airbus A320 and A319 of Mandala, the passengers will enjoy a big discount on their ferry fares from Batamfast, and gain an extraordinary tourist experience in Singapore," he said. The Regional Director of ASEAN (Islands) and Oceania of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Chooi Yee Choong said now STB is making an interesting offer, namely the Reasons to enjoy Singapore program. The program is promoting Singapore as an affordable destination and offered many unique experiences to visitors.
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