Friday, March 20, 2009

Oil, Gas, Mining , Business and Trade Updates from Indonesia



- Indocement 2008 Net Profit IDR1.75 Tln Vs IDR980.10 Bln
- Indocement Sees Profit Up 78 Percent, But Expects Lower Sales Ahead
- $22.6 Billion Worth Of Indonesian Private Debts To Mature
- Foreign Investors Withdraw Funds From Bank Indonesia Notes
- Indonesian Govt To Auction Bonds Valued At $180 Mln
- Queensland Citrus Growers Concerned About Indonesian Tariff
- Indonesian Govt Urged To Slap Anti-Dumping Duties On Wheat
- Indonesian Port Pelindo II Lowers Profit Target To $76.5 Mln
- Indonesia's Bank Mandiri Considering 50 Pts Rate Cut
- Indonesian Telco Xl Needs $400 Mln To Repay Debt, Lift Capital
- Sharp Indonesia Considering TV Exports To Africa And India
- ADB Postpones, Cancels Loans For Indonesian Projects
- Indonesia's Bumiputra Considering Rights Issue To Raise Capital
- Indonesia's Utd Tractors Sees Big Fall In Heavy Equipment Sales
- Emaar Remains Committed To Investing In Indonesia's W Nusa Tenggara
- Lion Air To Start Regular Jakarta-Jeddah Service In June
- Canada Optimistic Trade Balance With Indonesia Will Grow
- Iran, Indonesia Enjoy Growing Ties Despite UN Sanctions
- Indonesian Plan To Open Trade Center In Shanghai Cancelled
-- Platts: Pertamina Seeks To Buy 240,000 Mt LPG From Badak As Demand Surges
- Platts: Pertamina To Sell 2.6 Mil Barrels Gasoil To Local Buyers In 2009
- Indonesia's Pertamina Transfers ISC Oil Procurement To Petral
- Platts: Pertamina To Scale Down Fuel Oil Imports, Ramp Up VRFO Use:Source
- Indonesian Govt Preparing Regulation On LPG Trading
- Total E&P Indonesia To Maintain Gas Production Level
- Indonesian Gov't Asks PLN To Save On Subsidy
(26 reports Courtesy Joyo News Service)
Indocement 2008 Net Profit IDR1.75 Tln Vs IDR980.10 Bln
JAKARTA, March 20 (Dow Jones)--Cement maker PT Indocement
Tunggal Prakarsa (INTP.JK) said Friday its 2008 net profit rose
79% to IDR1.75 trillion from IDR980.10 billion a year earlier,
helped by higher revenues.
Net revenues for the January to December period of 2008 rose 34%
on year to IDR9.78 trillion from IDR7.32 trillion a year earlier.
The nation's second-largest cement company by output didn't give
any comment for its 2008 performance.
Assets at the end of December rose 12% to IDR11.29 trillion.


-----------------------------
The Jakarta Globe
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Indocement Sees Profit Up 78 Percent, But Expects Lower Sales
Ahead
Yohanes Obor & Bloomberg
PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk, a unit of Germany’s biggest
cement maker, expects sales to drop for the first time in six
years as the local economy slows.
The unit of Germany’s HeidelbergCement AG forecasts that
Indonesian cement consumption could decline 6 percent this year,
after growing by 2.5 percent in 2008, finance director Christian
Kartawijaya said. The company last year sold 12.3 million tons
of cement in Indonesia.
A drop in sales volumes and a 6.1 percent depreciation of the
rupiah may affect profitability at the nation’s second-largest
cement maker, which on Friday reported a net profit of Rp 1.75
trillion ($148.75 million) in 2008, a 78 percent rise compared
with Rp 980 billion a year earlier, boosted by higher earnings.
The company also said it is delaying by six months a $35 million
expansion plan to avoid adding new supply.
“Economic slowdown, tight liquidity and lower commodity” prices
are affecting the purchasing power of farmers and miners, and
reducing demand from construction, Kartawijaya said in an
interview. Still, the “X factor is infrastructure spending by
the government,” which could help boost consumption.
Sales at Indocement last year rose 34 percent to Rp 9.78
trillion, the company said. Operating profit increased by 54
percent to Rp 2.46 trillion from Rp 1.59 trillion in the
previous year.
Indocement’s operating costs rose to Rp 1.56 trillion in 2008,
up from Rp 1.17 trillion in 2007. About 50 percent of the cement
firm’s costs are dollar-denominated and the decline in the
currency could boost costs.
Share of Indocement, which have declined 4.4 percent this year,
closed unchanged at Rp 4,275 on Friday in Jakarta.
------------------------------
$22.6 Billion Worth Of Indonesian Private Debts To Mature
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia pulse - Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor
Hartadi Sarwono said a total of US$22.6 billion in private
sector debt to foreign parties would mature this year.
"This however will not automatically create pressure because not
all of it will be repaid all at once as some of it may be rolled
over," he said.
He said the debts consisted of corporate debts reaching US$17.4
billion including US2 billion in interest and trade financing
instruments reaching US$5.2 billion such as bankers' acceptance
and trade credits. He said based on the central bank's data 31
per cent of private corporate debts came from principal
companies. "So the possibility for them to be rolled over is
big," he said. He said 57 per cent of the companies that made
debts were foreign companies or joint ventures so that the
possibility for the debts to be extended would also be big. He
said the central bank continued monitoring the private debts
that would mature with regard to preventing pressure on the
country's rupiah currency. "We are always ready to intervene to
maintain the rupiah's stability so that that the currency would
not flucuate too much," he said.
--------------------------------
Foreign Investors Withdraw Funds From Bank Indonesia Notes
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - Foreign investors have withdrawn
large funds from Bank Indonesia promissory notes (SBI) and state
bonds since the last quarter of last year.
Foreign funds in SBI by March 19, 2009 were less than 1 per cent
of the total SBI funds of Rp250 trillion (US$21 billion), a Bank
Indonesia leader said.
Before the financial crisis jolted the world, foreign funds
accounted for 20 per cent of SBI fund on the average, Deputy
governor Hartadi A Sarwono said.
Early the third quarter of 2008, foreign funds invested in SBI
totaled US$6.8 billion, down to only US$0.8 billion by the end
of 2008, Sarwono said.
He said he disagreed with the suggestion of banning foreign
investors from having funds in SBI at least under the present
condition.
Under the situation of uncertainty it is not a good idea to
issue a regulation that would create more uncertainties, he was
quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
--------------------------------
Indonesian Govt To Auction Bonds Valued At $180 Mln
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian government will
auction off two state bonds valued at Rp2 trillion (US$180
million) both to help finance the 2009 state budget.
Rahmat Waluyanto, the debt management director general, said in
a statement the auction of the rupiah bonds will take place on
March 24 with settlement on March 26.
One of the bonds will be due for repayment on March 11, 2010 and
the other on May 15 in 2016, the newspaper Investor Daily quoted
the statement as saying.
The coupon of the bonds will be paid on May 15 and November 15
every year, the statement said.
--------------------------------
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News March 20, 2009
Queensland Citrus Growers Concerned About Indonesian Tariff
The Queensland Citrus Growers organisation fears that, as a
result of recent trade talks, a tariff on fruit sent to
Indonesia will remain at 25 per cent for the next 16 years.
President Nick Ulcoq says the tariff was set in 2005, but was
expected to decrease to 10 per cent by 2010.
He says the outlook isn't good because the tariff has already
halved citrus exports to Indonesia.
"Obviously the quality is a lesser quality and the quantities
are less that they can take as well," he says.
"So it [the tariff] may not kill it, but it's certainly going to
reduce the money coming back into Australia from that market."
-----------------------------
Indonesian Govt Urged To Slap Anti-Dumping Duties On Wheat
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia pulse - The Indonesian Wheat Flour
Producers Association (APTINDO) urged the government Thursday to
impose temporary anti-dumping duties on wheat flour imports from
Sri Lanka, Australia and Turkey accused by three local wheat
flour producers of dumping practices.
"We hope the government will impose temporary anti-dumping
duties on wheat flour imports from Turkey, Australia and Sri
Lanka. So far the government has not benefited from the
(anti-dumping duty) facility," APTINDO Executive Director Ratna
Sari Loppies said.
She said on October 16 last year three national wheat flour
producers -- PT Eastern Pearl Flour Mills, PT Sriboga, and PT
Panganmas-- filed an anti-dumping suit with the Indonesian
Anti-Dumping Committee (KADI).
Because of the alleged dumping practices the total production of
the three wheat flour producers fell 8.7 per cent for the
domestic sales, installed production capacity 7.9 per cent, and
productivity 2.6 per cent, leading to a 5.5 per cent drop in the
number of workers employed in the wheat flour processing
industry, she said. The alleged dumping practices also had
caused the market share of imported wheat flour in the domestic
market to increase to 7.8 per cent, she said. Last year
Indonesia imported an estimated 500 thousand tons of wheat
flour, 35.38 per cent of which came from Turkey, 30 per cent
from Australia and 13.7 per cent from Sri Lanka.
----------------------------
Indonesian Port Pelindo II Lowers Profit Target To $76.5 Mln
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo)
II has revised down its target for profit before tax to Rp900
billion (US$76.5 million) from Rp1 trillion with the decline in
flows of goods via Jakarta port town of Tanjung Priok.
Tanjung Priok, Indonesia's largest port, contributes 60-65 per
cent to the total income of the state-owned port operator.
Loading/unloading at the port declined 30 per cent from January
to mid March this year as a result of the global financial
crisis, Pelindo II corporate secretary Hendra Budhi said.
The previous target for income was set at more than last year's
record of Rp2 trillion for this year but under the present
conditions, the income was expected to decline, Hendra said.
-------------------------------
Indonesia's Bank Mandiri Considering 50 Pts Rate Cut
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - PT Bank Mandiri (JSX:BMRI),
Indonesia's largest bank, said it is considering cutting its
credit interest rate by 25-50 basis points to 13-15 per cent to
follow the cuts in the Bank Indonesia benchmark interest rate.
The government has urged banks, especially state banks, to cut
their credit interest rate to help boost the real sector.
In the past several months the central bank has cut its BI Rate
to as low as 7.75 per cent at present hoping to encourage credit
expansion by banks.
Zulkifli Zaini, a director of the state bank, said the cost of
funding would be considered in cutting the credit interest rate.
By the end of this month the bank hoped to cut its credit
interest rate by one per cent from 14-15.5 per cent at the
present point, Zulkifli said.
The banks still had excess liquidity so it did not have to pay
too high a cost for funds, he was quoted as saying by the
newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.
--------------------------------
Indonesian Telco Xl Needs $400 Mln To Repay Debt, Lift Capital
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's third largest
cellular phone operator PT Excelcomindo Pratama (XL) (JSX:EXCL)
needs a US$400 million loan to repay maturing debt and
strengthen its capital spending this year.
XL Senior vice president for finance and treasury Johnson Chan
said the company hopes to secure a loan of US$200 million from
the Export Credit Agency (ECA) of Sweden.
The rest would be in rupiah expected from local banks, Chan told
the newspaper Investor Daily yesterday.
He said XL has to repay a debt of US$50 million to the Royal
Bank of Scotland. and US$16 million to the ECA in July .
--------------------------------
Sharp Indonesia Considering TV Exports To Africa And India
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - Producer of electronic goods PT
Sharp Electronics Indonesia (SEID) is considering television
exports to Africa and India whose population and much like
Indonesians with a view to boosting market penetration and
maintaining its production performance which has been projected
to increase 5-10 per cent.
"We are considering exporting television sets to Africa and
India," President Director of SEID Fumihiro Irie said following
the launching of a colour slim CRT TV, Alexander Slim II said in
Jakarta Thursday.
He said this type of TV which is being considered for exports to
Africa and India is "Alexander Slim II" featuring loud but fine
sound which had been produced by SEID at its Pulo Gadung plant,
but for the Indonesian market only.
"Compared to last year, the production of SEID will increase by
5-10 per cent this year, because we produce not only TV sets,
but many other electric goods as well, like refrigerators and
washing machines," he said.
--------------------------------
ADB Postpones, Cancels Loans For Indonesian Projects
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - Asian Development Bank (ADB) has
postponed
and cancelled loans including project and program loans for
Indonesian this year.
ADB Principal Country Specialist for Indonesia Purnima Rajapakse
said the bank made the decision as the projects to be financed
with the loans were not ready.
In addition from the end of 2008, Indonesia was no longer in the
category deserving soft loans, Rajapakse said.
Since the last quarter of 2008 the bank identified project and
program loans to be postponed or cancelled in line with the
condition, he said.
There were six loans postponed and cancelled, he was quoted as
saying by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia, but gave no total
amount involved.
-------------------------------
Indonesia's Bumiputra Considering Rights Issue To Raise Capital
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - PT Bank Bumiputera Indonesia
(JSX:BABP) said it is studying the possibility of launching
rights issue to strengthen its capital.
A bank director Legiman Leidin said the bank hopes to raise up
to Rp250 billion (US$22 million) from the right issue to
increase its capital adequacy ratio to 14 per cent from 12 per
cent at present.
There is no date set yet as the bank is still studying the
market and it is not unlikely that the bank will decide to issue
bond instead, Legiman was quoted as saying by the newspaper
Bisnis Indonesia.
He said the bank management needs to strengthen its capital to
support credit expansion plan and to cope with possible problem
caused by non performing credits.
MC Palaniappan, the president of the bank, which is controlled
by the ICB Financial Group said the bank plans to extend Rp800
million in new credits this year increasing its outstanding
credit to Rp4.79 trillion .
---------------------------------
Indonesia's Utd Tractors Sees Big Fall In Heavy Equipment Sales
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - Heavy equipment sales by PT
United Tractors (JSX:UNTR) totaled only 439 units in February
down 48.83 per cent from the same period last year.
Declines were recorded in sales to all sectors including
agribusiness, construction, mining and forestry sectors, Ari
Setiyawan, a spokesman of the publicly traded heavy equipment
company said.
The decline has been expected and the sales were not below
target, Ari told the newspaper Investor Daily.
The sharpest fall in the sales of its Komatsu heavy equipment
was recorded to the forestry sector, he said, adding sales to
the forestry sector fell 96.03 per cent .
-------------------------------
Emaar Remains Committed To Investing In Indonesia's W Nusa
Tenggara
MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara, March 20 Asia Pulse - Emaar
Properties, a giant company from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates
(UAE), remains committed to its plan to invest in Indonesia's
West Nusa Tenggara province, a local legislator said.
"I just made a call to the Emaar director in Jakarta
(Indonesia's capital city) in connection with rumors that Emaar
might cancel its plan to invest in West Nusa Tenggara," the vice
chairman of the West Nusa Tenggara Provincial Legislative
Council's Commission I, Abdul Hadi Faishal, told Antara here
Thursday.
According to Hadi, it now depended on the government which was
expected to convince Emaar to go ahead with its investment plan
in West Nusa Tenggara.
"As part of the effort to convince Emaar, the government was
expected to meet several requirements such as widening roads
leading to the airport, guaranteeing clean water and electricity
supplies," he said.
Meanwhile, the West Nusatenggara Provincial Legislative Council
has approved a bylaw on the handing over of land previously
belonging to the Lombok Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC)
to Emaar which would fully manage it.
"We continue to try to prevent Emaar from leaving West Nusa
Tenggara. Otherwise the province will lose hundreds of billions
of rupiah (Indonesian unit) and 25,000 prospective workers would
lose job opportunities," he said.
Emaar had planned to use the land previously belonging to LTDC
in Lombok Tengah district to build properties and facilities in
conjunction with the construction of Lombok's international
airport in anticipation of an increase in the number of tourists
arriving in the province.
"Emaar is expected to call on tourists, especially those from
the Middle East, to visit West Nusa Tenggara as the province has
a lot of religious tourist sites," he said, adding that Emaar
was also expected to employ local workers when its projects had
become operational.
"We do not want the people of West Nusa Tenggara' to remain
onlookers or guests in their own region," he said.
Emaar would invest in the construction of a star-rated hotel on
500 hectares of land and thereby create jobs for thousands of
local people.
"Employment of local workers would be very important for the
government as it would be an effort to cope with unemployment in
West Nusa Tenggara," he said.
West Nusa Tenggara Governor KH. M. Zaenul Majdi said the shares
to be received by the province from the central government for
the business of the ex-LTDC land was worth Rp195.16 billion
(US$16.4 million).
---------------------------------
Lion Air To Start Regular Jakarta-Jeddah Service In June
JAKARTA, March 19 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's largest private
airline Lion Air will start regular flights from Jakarta to
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in June.
Lion Air General Director Edward Sirait said the airline will
use Boeing 747-400 aircraft seating 485 passengers to serve the
route.
The airline expects the arrival of two units of Boeing 747-400
aircraft this month, Sirait said.
He said Lion Air hopes to gain from the many Indonesia workers
in Middle East as passengers .
Lion Air will offer its ticket price at 20 per cent-40 per cent
lower than the prices charged by other airlines serving the
route, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.
--------------------------------
Canada Optimistic Trade Balance With Indonesia Will Grow
MEDAN, March 20 Asia Pulse - The government of Canada is
optimistic that Indonesia-Canada trade balance still could grow
or at least remain solid amid the ongoing global crisis.
"Indonesia and Canada are considered strong in the face of the
global crisis compared to other countries, so that the trade
balance of the two countries is predicted to remain good,"
Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia Y.M. John Holmes said here on
Thursday. The trade value of the two countries reached over
Rp23.1 trillion (US$1.9 billion) and it was the highest record.
In reply to journalists' question after a Canada-North Sumatra
Business Forum during a three day visit of Canadian business
delegation to Medan, he said such an assumption that Indonesia
and Canada would be able to face the global crisis was due to
the fact that there was a strong banking system in addition to
natural resources and manufacturing.
"Indonesia and Canada are also G20 member countries, so that
both will be trying hard to increase their cooperation,
especially in trade," he said.
Touching on export commodities which are prospective in the two
countries' trade relations, Holmes said that fertilizer, pulp,
mining products and electronic were still dominant.
Holmes admitted that however the bilateral trade was still
facing a deficit in which Canadian export was bigger to
Indonesia.
"But it's not impossible to run on the other way round. Let
alone the government of Indonesia is open and gives bigger
chances with various facilities," he said.
He gave an example that the law on investment recently issued by
the government of Indonesia had made investors lured to invest
in this world largest archipelagic country.
In the meantime, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and
Industry's North Sumatra chapter Irfan Mutyara said the
province's businessmen would make use of the visit of Canadian
businessmen delegation by finding the right partner to build a
good business in trade or investment in various projects.
He took as example of businessmen of crude palm oil and its
derivative products were trying to increase their export to
Canada as vegetable oil producer.
"Canadian markets are still prospective for the export of rubber
and coffee," he said.
---------------------------------
Iran, Indonesia Enjoy Growing Ties Despite UN Sanctions
JAKARTA, March 20 Asia Pulse - Iran's Ambassador to Indonesia
Behrouz Kamalvandi said Tehran and Jakarta enjoyed growing
relations despite the illegal United Nations sanctions against
Iran.
In an exclusive interview with IRNA here on Thursday, he said
the sanctions imposed on Iran by the United Nations Security
Council has had no impact on the growing trend of ties with
Indonesia.
Referring to the old history of bilateral ties, the ambassador
also said the two countries, despite their geographical
distance, never suffered any decline in their cultural or
religious cooperation.
Saying that about 60 per cent of Iran's exchanges with foreign
states belonged to countries located in Southern Asia,
Kamalvandi said Irans economic and trade ties with Indonesia
enjoyed a very remarkable growth rate in the past decades since
the victory of the Islamic revolution in iran.
Turing to the political issues, the Iranian official said Tehran
and Jakarta shared views on many global subjects including the
issue of Palestine.
The ambassador further stressed the political will of the two
countries leaders to boost ties and said the prospect for mutual
cooperation between the two Asian nations was quite brilliant.
(IRNA)
---------------------------------
Indonesian Plan To Open Trade Center In Shanghai Cancelled
BEIJING, March 20 Asia pulse - Indonesia has cancelled its plan
to open Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Shanghai and is now
looking for another Chinese city where the center can be set up.
The center could not be established in Shanghai because of a new
regulation issued by the local government, visiting Trade
Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said here Friday.
"We had planned to open the ITPC in Shanghai but because of a
new regulation of the local government, we are exploring the
possibility of doing it in another city in China," Pangestu said.
She made the statement before leaving Beijing for Shanghai where
she would inspect the site of an Indonesian pavilion at Expo
2010 which is to take place May 1 - October 31, 2010.
Pangestu is visiting China together with Acting Coordinating
Minister for Economic Affairs Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Bank
Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor Miranda Goeltom since Thursday
to meet with Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
She said the plan to establish ITPC in Shanghai would not be
realized because of a new regulation issued by the city's
authorities.
"We have met a problem in our efforts to set up ITPC in
Shanghai, and therefore I am currently exploring the possibility
of establishing the center in another city," she said.
She said the trade promotion center would be responsible for
make market development and trade promotion abroad in accordance
with Trade and Industry Minister's Decree No,518/MPP Kep/8/2003
on the tasks and functions of Indonesian trade promotion centers.
The function of ITPC was to make business contacts and
cooperation among business communities, to provide market
information, market Indonesian export commodities, and produce
market analyses.
So far, Indonesia has already set up trade promotion centers in
nine overseas cities, namely Osaka in Japan, Budapest in
Hungary, Los Angeles in the United States, Milan in Italy,
Sidney in Australia, Sao Paolo in Brazil, Dubai in the United
Arab Emirates, Hamburg in Germany, and Johannesburg in South
Africa.
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