Friday, June 26, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta















- Jasa Marga Expects '09 Net Pft To Grow More Than 10% -Director
- Singapore Investors Eyeing Bank Eksekutif Indonesia
- Indonesia's c.bank reverse repo auction results
- Indonesia's Ratu Prabu Earmarks $150 Mln For Capital Spending
- Indonesia's Maspion Won't Resort To Mass Layoffs: President
- Capacity Utilization Of Indonesia's Steel Industry Lowest In 3 Years
- Indonesia state firm sells 6,410 T sugar, price down
- China Habour To Take Part In Jakarta Airport Railway Project
- China's Geely To Invest $30 Mln In Indonesian Car Market
- Indonesia's Sales Of Car Tires Pick Up In May
- Indonesia Air Asia To Scrap Domestic Service For Regional Routes
- EU's Certificate Policy Not To Decrease Indonesian Fishery Exports
- EU Denies Slapping Higher Tariff Barrier On Indonesian CPO
- Indonesian Palm Oil Industrial Cluster Project To Be Build In Dumai
(Courtesy Joyo News Service)


Jasa Marga Expects '09 Net Pft To Grow More Than 10% -Director
JAKARTA, June 25 (Dow Jones)--Toll road operator and builder PT
Jasa Marga (JSMR.JK) expects 2009 net profit to grow by more
than 10% due to an increase in revenue, its finance director
told reporters Wednesday.
"2009 revenue is expected to exceed IDR3.7 trillion ($356
million), from IDR3.35 trillion a year earlier. This could
support us having our net profit for 2009 expand by more than
10%," Reynaldi Firmansjah said.
State-owned Jasa Marga, the nation's largest toll road company
by assets and revenue, had net profit last year of IDR707
billion.
----------------------------
Singapore Investors Eyeing Bank Eksekutif Indonesia
JAKARTA, June 24 Asia Pulse - An investor from Singapore agreed
to acquire PT Bank Eksekutif Indonesia, a report said confirmed
by the bank President Tonny Antonius.
The unnamed investor already signed a memorandum of
understanding early this month, the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia
reported.
The report quoting an official of Bank Indonesia said the
acquisition plan had been reported to the central bank.
Antonius said the process of acquisition is in progress and a
due diligence study will be held before negotiations on prices
proceed.
The bank owners would agree even if the strategic investors will
take the majority shares, he told the paper.
----------------------------
Indonesia's c.bank reverse repo auction results
JAKARTA, June 25 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank absorbed
300 billion rupiah ($29.27 million), below its target of 1
trillion rupiah, through a 21-day reverse-repo auction on
Thursday.
The central bank, Bank Indonesia, also held a 63-day reverse
repo auction, but it received no bids.
Bank Indonesia conducted the auctions, through which it absorbed
excess cash from commercial banks, by selling series of treasury
bills SPN20100114, SPN20100218, SPN20100311, SPN20100415,
SPN20100513 and SPN20100610.
It also sold fixed rate bonds FR0010 , FR0019
, FR0020 , FR0023 , FR0026
, FR0027 , FR0028 , FR0040
, FR0042 , FR0043 , and FR0044
.
In the previous reverse-repo auction on June 18, the central
bank received a total of 280 billion rupiah for its 21-day
reverse repo, but had no winning bids because the rate was
unfavourable.
Bank Indonesia held 25.93 trillion rupiah worth of tradable
rupiah government bonds as of June 23, down from 28.30 trillion
rupiah at the end of May, finance ministry data showed.
Followings are details of the auction:
Total incoming bids : 300 billion rupiah Amount absorbed : 300
billion rupiah Bid rate range (pct) : 6.90-6.93 SOR (stop out
rate) : 6.93 Weighted average rate (pct): 6.92 Settlement date :
June 26 Maturity date : July 17 Frequency of incoming bids : 2
($1 = 10,250 rupiah) (Reporting by Sonya Angraini; Editing by Ed
Davies)
-------------------------------
Indonesia's Ratu Prabu Earmarks $150 Mln For Capital Spending
JAKARTA, June 24 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's PT Ratu Prabu Energy
said it will set aside US$150 million to acquire a number of oil
and gas fields and to finance expansion in property business.
The company will issue bonds and launch rights issue if internal
cash and bank loans are not enough, its finance director
Gemilang Zaharin said.
Gemilang said the company hopes to secure US$50 million in bank
loans.
He said the bond might be issued this year and rights issue not
later than the first quarter of next year.
Part of the fund will be used to buy two units of drilling rigs
and to expand gas production capacity, the newspaper Investor
Daily said.
--------------------------------
Indonesia's Maspion Won't Resort To Mass Layoffs: President
SURABAYA, East Java, June 24 Asia pulse - President director of
Indonesia's Maspion Group, Alim Markus, said his corporation
would not resort to mass worker layoffs although the global
financial crisis had caused some of its subsidiaries to suffer
heavy losses.
"Economic conditions have deteriorated but I can assure the
public there will be no mass layoffs at Maspion," Markus said
here on Wednesday.
The company had to take efficiency measures but they did not
affect its workers` status. "We continue pursuing efficiency but
it does not include layoffs," Markus said.
Maspion Group which comprises a number of companies engaged in
production of electronic household goods, employs a work force
of about 20,000.
In addition to the global financial crisis, Maspion Group was
also facing another financial burden relating to an increase of
the district minimum wages (UMK) in East Java in 2009 of 17 per
cent at the average, he said.
The Surabaya`s Industrial Relations Court (PHI) rejected a civil
law suit posted by Alim Markus as chairman of the Indonesian
Employers Association (APINDO) of East Java area regarding the
East Java provincial Governor`s decree on the implementation of
the UMK.
"We still adhere to such decision, whatever the risk we are
facing," he said.
In 2008, a Maspion subsidiary, PT Alumindo Light Metal Industry
(ALMI), Tbk. suffered financial losses amounting Rp92 billion.
"The losses happened due to the decreasing value of the rupiah
as the impact of global economic crisis in 2008," ALMI Executive
Director, Alim Satria said.
The losses reduced the ALMI`s net profit from Rp32 billion to
Rp5 billion in 2007, Satria cited.
Global economic crisis has also led to a decrease in quantity of
the company`s sales, starting from fourth quarter of 2008 to
first quarter of 2009.
"The decline occurred mainly in the export market, particularly
the United States, as the main export market of the company," he
said.
In the year 2008, some 62 per cent of the quantity of the
company`s sales come from exports to foreign countries, so that
the global crisis has seriously hit ALMI which produces
aluminium sheets, he added.
---------------------------------
Capacity Utilization Of Indonesia's Steel Industry Lowest In 3
Years
JAKARTA, June 24 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's steel industry is
estimated to operate only at 40-50 per cent of its capacity in
the first half of this year or the lowest in the past three
years.
Based on data at the Indonesia Association of Iron and Steel
Industry a decline in capacity utilization was recorded in all
sectors of the industry .
The billet producers are estimated to produce only 1.34 million
tons or 38.2 per cent of their total capacity and concrete
reinforcing steel producers are expected to turn out only
929,196 tons or 31.8 per cent of their capacity in the first
half of he year.
Deputy chairman of the association Irvan Kamal said the
country's steel industry could not increase production on weak
demand .
Meanwhile it was reported that the prices of steel sank to the
lowest level in the past 12 months.
The prices of hot rolled coils plunged 64.88 per cent in May
from July's peak of US$1,125 per ton.
----------------------------------
Indonesia state firm sells 6,410 T sugar, price down
JAKARTA, June 25 (Reuters) - Indonesian state plantation firm PT
Perkebunan Nusantara XI has sold 6,410 tonnes of white sugar in
an auction at a top farm gate price of 6,925 rupiah per kg, a
company official said on Thursday.
The price was down nearly 6 percent from the top price at
previous week's auction of 7,353 rupiah per kg, mainly because
crushing has gained pace, said Adig Suwandi, corporate secretary
of the state firm.
"Prices have started to fall and may continue to ease in coming
weeks as more stocks are released into the market," Suwandi told
Reuters.
The winning bidder at this week's auction was from CV Sumber
Hidup, a Jakarta-based trading firm.
Distributors normally charge up to 1,000 rupiah per kg as a
margin to consumers.
State plantations normally crush sugar cane from their own
plantations and from farmers. But since last November they have
only been able to sell sugar from farmers, while sugar from
their own plantations must be distributed by state procurement
agency Bulog as a single selling agent.
Indonesia was traditionally one of Asia's biggest buyers of the
sweetener, but is scaling back imports of white sugar for
household consumption since domestic output is exceeding
consumption.
Southeast Asia's biggest economy, however, still relies on
imported raw sugar to produce high quality refined sugar used by
food and beverage industry. (Reporting by Aloysius Bhui; Editing
by Ed Davies)
-----------------------------
China Habour To Take Part In Jakarta Airport Railway Project
JAKARTA, June 25 Asia Pulse - China Harbour wants to take part
in a tender to build an railway project to link Jakarta's
Soekarno Hatta airport with railway stations in the city center.
Tenders held twice previously failed for lack of investors
showing interest in the long delayed project that will
facilitate transport to Indonesia's largest airport.
China Harbour would join other previous bidders Mitsui and
Railink in the third tender, Nugroho Indrio, the secretary of
the railway directorate general said.
The Chinese company had already submitted tender documents and
the tender result would be announced early July, Nugroho said.
Earlier, Transport Minister Jusman S Djamal said if plans to
hold the next tender failed, such as for lack of bidders, the
government would take over the jobs.
There were few investors interested in building the 17.3
kilometer railway project to cost around Rp1.5 trillion (US$136
million), Jusman said.
He said a number of investors such as Alstom from France, and
Mitsui & Co. (TSE:8031) from Japan had taken part in
prequalification tenders, however, after the selections, only
one of the bidders proceeded with the process to submit proposal
for the final tender.
-----------------------------
China's Geely To Invest $30 Mln In Indonesian Car Market
JAKARTA, June 25 Asia Pulse - Chinese principal Geely Holdings
Group said it will invest US$30 million to establish
distribution and marketing networks for its Geely cars in
Indonesia.
Geely Holdings said through its Indonesian units PT Geely Mobil
Indonesia it hopes to grab a substantial share of car market in
the country.
Richard Yang, a director of Geely Holdings, said Indonesia is
the potential starting point to enter car market in southeast
Asia.
He said this year, Geely will assemble 400 units of cars at PT
Gaya Motor and 125 of the units will be exported to China for
the principal, and the rest are to be disposed of on the
domestic market.
Next year, Geely hopes to increase production to 1,000 units to
be exported to Brunei, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, he
was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
------------------------------
Indonesia's Sales Of Car Tires Pick Up In May
JAKARTA, June 25 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's sales of car tires
began to pick up reaching 3.28 million units in May, or the
largest so far this year.
Growing demand in exports market was the largest contribution to
the increase in sales, the association of tire makers said.
Exports surged 16.3 per cent to 2.33 million units from 2
million units in April, association chairman Aziz Pane said.
The sales in May rose 12.7 per cent from the previous month's
2.91 million units but fell 25 per cent from the same month in
2008.
Pane said the trend is encouraging, adding sales grew to both
car makers to be used as original equipment and to retailers for
replacement.
------------------------------
Indonesia Air Asia To Scrap Domestic Service For Regional Routes
JAKARTA, June 25 Asia Pulse - Indonesia Air Asia has decided to
scrap services on a number of domestic routes in favor of
regional routes.
The airline already decided to stop service on domestic routes
including Jakarta-Batam, Jakarta-Padang, Jakarta -Makasar and
Jakarta-Balikpapan and increase flight frequency in regional
routes.
The airline was forced to restructure its routes on limited seat
capacity, its President Dharmadi said.
Indonesia Air Asia, which has a fleet of 14 aircraft, plans to
half its services for domestic routes normally account for 40
per cent of its total flight service to 20 per cent, Dharmadi
said.
Regional services are more promising with fairly high load
factors, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Bisnis
Indonesia
-----------------------------
EU's Certificate Policy Not To Decrease Indonesian Fishery
Exports
JAKARTA, June 25 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian government believes
the country's fishery exports to the European Union will not
drop due to the EU's policy requiring those exports to be
covered by certificates.
"I am optimistic we are prepared. So our exports to EU will not
drop," the director general of processing and marketing of
fishery products of the ministry of fishery and marine
resources, Martani Huseini, said here on Wednesday.
The country`s total fishery exports in 2008 reached US$2.6
billion a year and 30 per cent of them went to EU.
"So far exports to Japan remain the biggest reaching 35 to 45
per cent of total exports a year," he said.
He said however that exports to EU were important because their
value was higher than the value of exports to other countries.
"The EU is the best in terms of price compared to other
countries and is not too demanding," Martani said.
He said right now there were 27 new rich countries in the
Europen Union and they had bigger capacity to buy premium
fishery products than the US.
He said the EU was now also friendlier to fishery products from
Indonesia proven by the fact that it had never rejected products
from the country so far.
"What has become a problem now is shortage in our supply. This
has happened because catch is dwindling while breeding is
minimum," he said.
Regarding the EU requirements Martani said the problem faced by
the country`s fishermen was that they were not used to making
records.
"Only big ships conduct recording in log books but small
fishermen never does that. This is what has to be familiarized,"
he said.
-------------------------------
EU Denies Slapping Higher Tariff Barrier On Indonesian CPO
JAKARTA, June 25 Asia Pulse - The European Union (EU) denies
reports that it has restricted imports of crude palm oil (CPO)
from Indonesia.
The import duty on CPO has not changed and is the same on all
CPO regardless of the way it was produced, EU's chief delegate
to Indonesia Julian Wilson said.
Reports quoting officials in the country have said the EU had
slapped restriction on CPO from Indonesia for allegedly
destroying tropical forests to provide land for new palm
plantations.
Indonesia, the world's largest CPO producer, will continue to
enjoy full access for its CPO to the EU market without tariff
barrier, Wilson stressed.
The EU even offers additional incentives for Indonesian
exporters to boost exports to the EU which plans to promote the
use of biofuel including one from palm oil, he said.
Incentives, however, will be given only to those producing CPO
through eco-friendly process, he added.
--------------------------
Indonesian Palm Oil Industrial Cluster Project To Be Build In
Dumai
JAKARTA, June 25 Asia Pulse - Construction of an upstream palm
oil industrial cluster in Dumai, Indonesia will cost around Rp20
trillion (US$3 billion).
The funds would be needed to build road infrastructure, port,
drinking water supply facility and new units of processing
factory, head of the provincial industry and trade office
Herliyan Saleh said.
Herliyan said a number of big palm oil producers had shown
interest and agreed to invest in the project.
PT Wilmar, for example, had already invested Rp7 trillion to
build the port facility and expand production capacity.
The interest shown by palm oil companies had also encouraged
banks to take part in financing the project, he said in the
newspaper Investor Daily.
Support from the government by declaring Dumai as the basis for
the expansion of downstream palm oil industry in the country was
needed, he said.
------------------------------
Saudi Investors Exploring Agri Opportunities In West Java
BANDUNG, W Java, June 25 Asia Pulse - A number of Saudi
investors are interested in investing their capital in the
agricultural and animal husbandry sectors as well other
small-and medium scale business sectors in West Java.
The Saudi investors` interest was expressed during a meeting
between West Java Governor H Ahmad Heryawan and Saudi Ambassador
to Indonesia Salim Seghaf Al Zufrie at the governor`s office
here on Wednesday.
During the meeting, the ambassador was accompanied by a number
of business players from the Middle East.
"There are several investment potentials in West Java that
attract Saudi investors, such as agriculture, livestock breeding
and trade," Al Zufrie said.
He said that his side would focus their talks and investment
plans of the Saudi investors on West Java. The investors are
interested in supporting development of West Java`s agriculture,
agribusiness and animal husbandry such as cow and sheep breeding.
In the near future, the Saudi ambassador will take Saudi
investors to observe directly the business potentials in West
Java province.
After a meeting with the governor, the Saudi ambassador and
representatives of Saudi businesses held an intensive talk with
the local investment coordinating board (BKPMD).
"We offer all business potentials that West Java has, including
the energy and tourism sectors," Governor Heryawan said.
During the visit, the ambassador also studied about West Java`s
investment regulations, particularly with regard to security
conditions and the smoothness of investment.
At present, Saudi investors have made investments on the
agricultural sector in Kendari, North Sulawesi and Fakfak.

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