Showing posts with label Indonesia Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indonesia Business. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta



















- CIMB says Indonesia to account for 40 pct profit by 2015
- Semen Kupang to resume operation by the end of the year
- BW Plantation IPO Indicative Price IDR525-IDR750/Share
- BW Plantation to offer shares to public in October
- Indonesia's Inflation Estimated At Around 1% In Sept.
- Indonesian Govt To Inject Us$49 Mln Into Waskita Karya
- Indonesia's Leyand Secures Loan To Acquire Toll Road Co
- Indonesia's United Tractors Set To Chalk Up 15% Increase In Sales
- Indonesia's Gozco Posts Increase In Income
- Indonesia Cuts Import Duties On Japanese Cars
- Indonesian District Cirebon Records 80 Thousand Tons Of Rice Surplus
- Prices Of Natural Rubber Predicted To Rise Next Year
- European Investors In Indonesia May Build Organic Fertilizer Plant
Email Kerry at author@sidharta.com.au for the full report

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta

















- Indonesia c.bank delays regular SBI auction until Thursday
- Indonesia cbanker says forex reserves at $60.3 bln
- Semen Kupang to resume operation
- Malaysians top city's tourist list after bombings
- Krakatau Steel To Sell 20% Stake In Indonesian Tin Subsidiary
- Cost Of Building Indonesia's Summarecon Bekasi Up To $100 Mln
- Hotel Occupancy Rates Rise To 65% In Jakarta
- Indonesia's Trigana Airlines To Serve Ambon-Dobo Route
- Indonesia State Fertilizer Co Kaltim To Build NPK Factory
For the full report send your request to Kerry at: author@sidharta.com.au

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta













- Indonesia's BTPN To Issue IDR500B 3-Year, 5-Year Bonds In Oct
- Maybank Swings To Q4 Net Loss After Writing Down Foreign Assets
- Indonesia's PT PAL Eyeing $170 Mln Project To Build Navy Ship
- Indonesian Town To Disburse $260,000 In Sugar Bazaar Subsidies
- Indonesia Plantation Co Waits On Order To Intervene In Sugar Mkt
- Indonesia's Bumi Serpong Damai To Boost Real Estate Investment
- Indonesia's Krakatau Steel To Spend $200mln On Factories
- Indonesia State Cos Agree To Accept 8% Interest On Deposits
- Indonesia's GDP From Fishery Sector Up By $7.7 Bln In 4 Years


email author@sidharta.com.au for the full Joyo Report

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta















- Indonesia's Astra Agro Reports Sharp Fall In Profit
- Indonesia's Merukh Family Acquires Air Charter Cos DAS And SMAC
- TABLE-Indonesia Q2 balance of payments estimates
- Indonesia c.bank says 1-month SBI rate at 6.59686 pct
- Indonesia's RNI Expanding Sugar Plantations
- Progressive Tax On Vehicle Ownership Still Pending: Jakarta City
- Indonesia's Industry Minister Calls For Acfta Postponement
- Indonesian Govt Names 8 BWA Operators
- All villages in Indonesia will have internet-access by 2010: president
- China Proposes $10 Bln Fund to Boost China-Asean Trade, Investment
Read the full reports at: http://groups.google.com/group/joyonews/browse_thread/thread/949c736fbf855adb#

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta
















- Banker Urges Indonesian Govt To Force Interest Rate Cuts
- Permata Bank to have new directors, commissioners
- BNI Set To Become 2nd Largest Lender In Indonesia
- Indonesia's BSM Reports Strong Growth In Net Profit
- Indonesia's Indosat Planning To Issue Bonds In Q4
- Coca-Cola Amatil To Increase Indonesian, Png Output
- Gaikindo Rejects Indonesia Govt's Plan To Tax Car Ownership
- Foreign Firms Target Promising Vietnamese, Indonesian Markets
To view full report go to: http://groups.google.com/group/joyonews/browse_thread/thread/6ed4da7f78214c92#

Friday, July 24, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta











- Moody's keeps positive outlook on Indonesia rating
- Indonesia c.bank reverse-repo gets no winning bids
- Indonesia aims to raise 2 trln rph in debt sale
- Bank Rakyat Indonesia Set To Acquire Bank Bukopin
- Indonesia's Bank Century Swings To Profit In First Half
- Indonesian Telcos Delay $700 Mln Optic Cable Project Until Dec
- TABLE-Indonesia June vehicle sales fall 27.7 pct yr/yr
- Indonesia '09 motorcycle sales revised up-Astra Honda
- TABLE-Indonesia June motorbike sales drop 10.8 pct y/y
- Indonesian State Firms' Dividend Payments Up 300%
- Indonesia Banks' NPLs Estimated To Not Exceed 5%: Bi
- Indonesia's Mandala To Operate Two New Airbus Aircraft
- Indonesian minister pushes for APEC regional trade financing cooperation
For full report courtesy Joyo News Service go to:
http://groups.google.com/group/joyonews/browse_thread/thread/c039b5967db1c811#

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta






- Indonesia 1H Car Sales Down 28% On Year TO 210,246 Units
- Chinese Automakers Want To Build Car Plants In Indonesia
- TABLE-Indonesia's tax revenue drops 2.8 pct in first half
- TABLE-Indonesia June cement consumption drops 2 pct y/y
- Indonesian Builder Adhi Karya Overshoots Income Target
- Indonesian Steel Makers Boost Production On Improved Market
- Indonesian Exports Of Shrimps Up 6.05%
- Asean+3 To Set Up Landmark Bond Fund
- Indonesian Bank Permata Receives Capital Injection Of $100 Mln
- Holcim Indonesia To Appoint Temporary Replacement For Top Exec
- Indonesian Govt Yet To Allow Urea Fertilizer Exports
- Moratorium For Indonesian Migrant Workers To Malaysia Extended
- Indonesia's Asita Taking Stock Of Bombings' Impact On Tourism
Go to: http://groups.google.com/group/joyonews/browse_thread/thread/51263824030ffe0d#

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta














- Indonesia Pawnshop Hopes To Post $400 Mln In Turnover In July

- Indonesian Banks May Cut Interest Rates To 10%

- Bank Indonesia Exploring Cooperation With Middle East Banks

- Indonesia's H1 Motorcycle Exports Down 39%

- Indonesian PC Sales Forecast To Increase To 1.45 Mln Units

- Icon+ To Build Telephone Networks In 7,730 Indonesian Villages

- Indonesian Property Co Ciputra To Build 3 Towns In China

- Indonesian Co Astra Agro Posts Earnings Drop Despite Sales Rise

- Indonesia Govt To Encourage Production Of Arabica Coffee

---

Indonesia Pawnshop Hopes To Post $400 Mln In Turnover In July

JAKARTA, July 14 Asia Pulse - Indonesian state pawnshop Perum
Pegadaian said it hopes to post Rp4 trillion (US$400 million) in
turn over in July up from normal level of Rp3.7 trillion a month.

The increase was attributable mainly to the new academic year
when many people needed additional funds, Pegadaian finance
director Budianto said.

Budianto predicted the trend would continue through the rests of
the year with the coming Idul Ftri to be followed with Christmas
and New Year celebrations.

He said the company was expected to post Rp48 trillion in turn
over this year, up from Rp33 trillion last year.

-----------------------

Indonesian Banks May Cut Interest Rates To 10%

JAKARTA, July 15 Asia Pulse - Banks could cut their corporate
credit interest rates to as low as 10 per cent in the second
half of this year to follow the lead by the central bank, a
senior banker said.

The steady cut in Bank Indonesia benchmark interest rate (BI
Rate) and improving economic condition would allow banks to
offer cheaper credits, Sudargo Sudaryanto, the corporate
director of state lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) (JSX:BBRI)
said.

Currently the interest rate on corporate credit offered by BRI
ranges from 12 per cent-23 per cent, Sudargo said.

In the past several months BRI already cut its interest rates by
50 basis points every month, he said, adding, the bank hopes to
be able to continue the policy to encourage borrowers.

The bank has large undisbursed loans, he was quoted as saying by
the newspaper Investor Daily without giving figure.

Meanwhile, Krishna Suparto, corporate director of PT Bank Negara
Indonesia (BNI) (JSX:BBNI), another state lender, said if the BI
Rate is cut further to 6 per cent from 6.75 per cent at present,
BNI would be able to offer cheaper credit at an interest rate of
10 per cent.

------------------------

Bank Indonesia Exploring Cooperation With Middle East Banks

JAKARTA, July 15 Asia pulse - Indonesian state-owned bank Bank
Negara Indonesia (BNI) is exploring cooperation possibilities
with banks from the Middle East.

"It is still being discussed. The form of cooperation is still
being discussed from various aspects," bank vice president
director, Felia Salim, said on Tuesday.

She would not mention the names of the banks BNI planned to
cooperate with as yet. It was reported earlier that BNI would
cooperate with the Bank of Qatar.

BNI meanwhile is also still continuing the process of
cooperation with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of
the Private Sector (ICD). The two banks planned to cooperate in
the establishment of a shariah-based bank.

BNI and ICD, which is a subsidiary of the Islamic Development
Bank (IDB), have agreed to set up a shariah bank from a spin-off
BNI shariah unit.

BNI expects the spin off of its shariah unit with a capital of
Rp500 billion (US$49 million) to finish this year so that the
ICD could immediately join and invest in it.

Several investors from the Middle East meanwhile were reported
early this year to enter the banking sector in the country
including QIB from Qatar and Kuwait Investment House.

The director of shariah banking at Bank Indonesia, Ramzi A
Zuhdi, believed the Middle Eastern investors would not yet enter
this year.

"I think no investor from the Middle East will enter this year
because of the impact of the world financial crisis which has
certainly also affected their finances," he said.

------------------------

Indonesia's H1 Motorcycle Exports Down 39%

JAKARTA, July 15 Asia pulse - Indonesia`s motorcycle exports in
the first five months of 2009 fell 39 per cent to 16,841 from
the same period a year earlier on the economic slowdown in a
number of export destinations.

The global financial crisis had a significant impact on almost
all countries, including the overseas market for Indonesian
motorcycles, Chief of the Indonesian Motorcycle Manufacturers
Association (AISI) Gunadi Shinduwinata said on Tuesday.

"But because our motorcycle exports were small compared to the
total domestic sales, the drop did not have a significant impact
on the domestic motorcycle industry," he said.

He said the country`s export of almost all commodities including
automotive products saw a decline because of the crisis.

Data from the Industry Ministry show the country`s motorcycle
production in the year ended May stood at 2,078,774 units of
which 2,061,685 units were sold at home.

Motorcycle exports in the January-May 2009 period fell 39.6 per
cent to 16,841 from 27,917 in the same period last year,
according to the data.

In May 2009 alone, motorcycle exports fell 45.1 per cent to
2,810 compared to January when the figure was 5,119.

Commenting on the drop in motorcycle exports, Director General
of Transportation Means and Telematics Industry at the Industry
Ministry Budi Darmadi said the situation in the export market
was difficult to predict.

"The condition in each country varies. Each nation has different
characteristics from the standpoint of social, economic and
political aspects. And this is beyond our control," he said.

-------------------------

Indonesian PC Sales Forecast To Increase To 1.45 Mln Units

JAKARTA, July 14 Asia Pulse - Sales of personal computers (PC)
in Indonesia are predicted to rise to 1.45 million units in the
second half of this year from 1.15 million units in the first
six months of the year.

Improvement in the economic condition would help push up demand
for PCs, Suhanda Wijaya, chairman of the association of computer
companies said.

The sales target of 2.6 million units in 2009 was higher than
total sales of 2.4 million units last year, Suhanda told the
newspaper Investor Daily .

Notebooks still dominated PC sales, accounting for 70 per cent
of the total sales in the first half of this year.

----------------------

Icon+ To Build Telephone Networks In 7,730 Indonesian Villages

JAKARTA, July 15 Asia Pulse - PT Indonesia Comnet Plus (Icon+)
says it will build telephone networks in 7,730 villages after it
was named the winner of Universal Service Obligation (USO)
tender.

USO is a government program to build telecommunications systems
in rural areas not yet reached by the existing fixed
telecommunications operators.

Icon+ president Mulyo Adji AG said the project would cost around
Rp730 billion (US$71.54 million) and the fund has been available
at the state minister for communication and information from USO
contributions by telecommunications operators.

Work would start after the signing of the USO contract on July
17 and in 2011, the entire 7,730 villages should have telephone
links, Mulyo told the newspaper Investor Daily.

Telkomsel won a previous tender to build telephone networks for
24,000 other villages in the country.

---------------------------

Indonesian Property Co Ciputra To Build 3 Towns In China

JAKARTA, July 15 Asia Pulse - Indonesian property company group
the Ciputra Group said it will expand operations to China to
build three townships in that country.

Initial agreements have been signed on the three projects with
construction to start next year, the group chairperson Ciputra
said.

The first township to be built is in Nanjing, to be followed
with one in Chiason and another in area north of Beijing,
Ciputra said.

The Nanjing project will be built over a 900 hectare plot of
land to be carried out by phases in 10 years in cooperation with
a Chinese state company.

The Ciputra Group will have a 30 per cent stake in each of the
projects, Ciputra was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor
Daily .

The Ciputra Group already built or is building similar projects
in India, Vietnam and Cambodia.

-------------------------------

Indonesian Co Astra Agro Posts Earnings Drop Despite Sales Rise

JAKARTA, July 15 Asia Pulse - Palm oil producer PT Astra Agro
Lestari (JSX:AALI) estimated a 26 per cent decline in earning to
Rp3.41 trillion (US$341 million) in the first half of this year
despite an increase in sales volume.

The fall in the sale value followed a price fall of that
commodity down to an average of Rp6,386 per kg in the first six
months of this year from Rp8,299 per kg in the same period last
year.

The publicly traded agribusiness company sold 494,018 tons of
crude palm oil (CPO) in the first half of this year up from
476,909 tons valued at Rp4.64 trillion year-on-year, company
spokesman Tjahyo Dwi Arianto said.

The company also produces rubber but that commodity has little
contribution to the income of subsidiary of the Astra Group.

-------------------------

Indonesia Govt To Encourage Production Of Arabica Coffee

JAKARTA, July 15 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian government will
encourage farmers to boost production of Arabica coffee to
increase earning from coffee exports.

Last year, the country earned US$700 million from coffee exports
mainly Robusta coffee.

Robusta makes up 80 per cent of the country's coffee exports
while Arabica dominates 70 per cent of the world's market,
Plantation Director General Achmad Manggabarani said.

Manggabarani said the government will contribute by offering
high yield Arabica coffee seeds to 21 district areas.

He said the government has also set aside Rp983.7 billion
(US$96.4 million) this year to improve coffee quality and
productivity .

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta


















- Salim Ivomas Mulls Issuing IDR1 Trillion Bonds - Report
- Foreign Banks Offer Indonesia Agribiz Astra Agro $150 Mln Loan
- Indonesia cuts max rupiah deposit rate, $ steady
- First Semester Of Indonesia's 2009 Deficit 0.2 Per Cent
- Table-Indonesia's Latest 2009 Economic Forecasts
- Manufacturing key sector for development: Minister
- Bankers have positive perception on Indonesia: central bank
- Forex Held By Indonesia's Bank Mandiri Up On Weak Credit Demand
- Yamaha Leads In Motorcycle Market In Indonesia
- Indonesia's GMM To Increase Local Content Of VW Car
- U.S. explores train revitalization project in Indonesia
- Sales Of Cement In Indonesia Down 9.7% On-Year
- Indonesia Aims To Increase Shoe Exports This Year
(Courtesy Joyo News Service)
Salim Ivomas Mulls Issuing IDR1 Trillion Bonds - Report
JAKARTA, July 14 (Dow Jones)--PT Salim Ivomas Pratama may issue
IDR1 trillion ($97.32 million) later this year if market
conditions improve, Bisnis Indonesia reported Tuesday.
The newspaper quoted Ivomas Chief Executive Mark Julian Wakeford
as saying that the proceeds will be used to repay company debt.
Salim Ivomas is a subsidiary of the Singapore-listed Indofood
Agri Resources Ltd. (5JS.SG)
--------------------------
Foreign Banks Offer Indonesia Agribiz Astra Agro $150 Mln Loan
JAKARTA, July 13 Asia Pulse - Indonesian agribusiness company PT
Astra Agro Lestari (JSX:AALI) has been offered a loan of US$150
million by five foreign banks.
The publicly traded company may use the funds from Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Limited
(SGX:O39), Natixis Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui
Banking Corp, to strengthen its capital expenditure this year.
Company spokesman Tjahyo Dwi Ariantono said the Astra Group
subsidiary planned to invest US$150 million this year to expand
its oil palm plantations and to build two palm oil processing
plants.
The company reported a 1.1 per cent increase in crude palm oil
production to 499,444 tons in the first six months of this year,
the newspaper Investor Daily said.
--------------------------
Indonesia cuts max rupiah deposit rate, $ steady
JAKARTA, July 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia's state-owned deposit
insurance corporation (LPS) has cut its maximum guaranteed
rupiah deposit rate to 7.25 percent from 7.5 percent, the agency
said on Monday.
But it kept the guaranteed dollar deposit rate unchanged at 2.75
percent. (Reporting by Dicky Kristanto; Editing by Sara Webb)
----------------------------
First Semester Of Indonesia's 2009 Deficit 0.2 Per Cent
JAKARTA, July 14 Asia pulse - The 2009 Indonesian State Budget
deficit in the first semester of 2009 reached Rp5.7 trillion
(US$558.6 million), which is 0.2 per cent of the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
Deputy Chairman of the Budget Committee Suharso Monoarfa told a
hearing between the House budget committee with the government
in Jakarta Monday night that the deficit was caused the quicker
provision of employee expanses and transfers to the regions to
maintain consumption growth.
The hearing was also attended by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani
Indrawati and Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) Hartadi A.
Sarwono.
Suharso said the state`s revenue and grants in the first
semester of 2009 reached Rp367.2 trillion, which is 43.3 per
cent of the stimulus document.
The state`s revenue came from tax receipts amounting to Rp288.5
trillion, or 43.6 per cent of the stimulus document.
"The tax receipts were affected by the slowing down economic
growth, the drop in the volume and value of imports, increase in
the price of oil, increase in excise rates, export duty on CPO,
and the taxation sunset policy," Suharso told the hearing
chaired by the House Budget Committee Emir Moeis.
In the meantime, the state`s non-tax revenue reached Rp78.5
trillion, or 42.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, state expenses in the first semester of 2009 reached
Rp372.9 trillion, or 37.7 per cent of the stimulus document.
The total consisted of expenses of ministries/institutions
Rp104.4 trillion, subsidy expenses Rp34.3 trillion, and
transfers to the regions Rp139.8 trillion.
The cover the deficit, expenses in the first semester of 2009
reached Rp47.8 trillion, consisting of the issuance of state
bonds reaching Rp69.2 trillion, or 126.1 per cent.
-----------------------------
Table-Indonesia's Latest 2009 Economic Forecasts
JAKARTA, July 14 (Reuters) - Following are the latest forecasts
from the finance ministry for Indonesia's economy in 2009
approved by a parliamentary budget committee late on Monday.
MACROECONOMIC ASSUMPTIONS
latest f'cast previous f'cast
GDP growth (pct) in 2009 4.3 4.3
Year-end inflation rate (pct) 4.5 below 5.0
Average 3-mth SBI interest rate in H2 (pct) 6.47 6.5
Average rupiah exchange rate/dollar in 2009 10,500 10,600
Average rupiah exchange rate/dollar in H2 10,000 10,130
Average oil price per barrel, $ in 2009 61.0 61.0
Average oil price per barrel, $ in H2 70.0 70.0
Oil lifting (million barrels per day) in 2009 0.96 0.96
(Reporting by Andreas Ismar; Editing by Ed Davies)
---------------------------
The Jakarta Post [website]
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Manufacturing key sector for development: Minister
Aditya Suharmoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will make manufacturing a key sector in designing
its 2010-2014 development plan to reduce poverty and
unemployment, a minister said Tuesday.
"The role of the manufacturing industry in development is very
important," State Minister for National Development Planning
Paskah Suzetta said in a statement.
"As of 2008, the manufacturing sector in the economy contributed
only 23 percent of GDP. In the future, the role of the
manufacturing industry should be enhanced," he said.
The manufacturing, agriculture and mining sectors are expected
to produce goods that can be sold on the global market, he added.
According to the National Development Planning Agency
(Bappenas), the growth of the manufacturing industry declined
from 4.62 percent in 2005 to 3.66 percent in 2008, despite
Indonesia’s need for labor-intensive industry.
---------------------------
Bankers have positive perception on Indonesia: central bank
JAKARTA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian bankers have positive
perception on the country's credit and liquidity risks,
implicating to acceleration of decreasing interest rates, the
Kompas daily reported on Tuesday, quoting a survey by Bank
Indonesia in the second quarter this year, the central bank.
The survey showed the bankers had predicted that interest rates
of working capital would be at 11.64 percent in the end of 2009,
compared with 12.75 percent in the same survey conducted in the
first quarter, down 111 basis points.
Tony Prasentiantono, the head of economist in PT Bank BNI Tbk,
the third biggest government bank, said that there were many
factors that influenced business players, including bankers, to
be optimistic on the economy prospect.
He said that almost all economic indicators in the second
quarter were better compared to the previous one. The data of
inflation, economic growth and forex reserves kept showing
positive development.
He also said that economic players got more optimism seeing the
secured and peaceful presidential election.
"The conditions will inspire all economic players to expand or
to invest," he said, adding that the momentum could start to
occur in the third quarter.
Indonesia's economic growth stood at 4.5 in the first quarter
and the Finance Ministry predicted that Indonesia would have a
growth rate of 4.4 percent this year.
---------------------------
Forex Held By Indonesia's Bank Mandiri Up On Weak Credit Demand
JAKARTA, July 14 Asia Pulse - Third party funds in foreign
exchange held by Indonesia's PT Bank Mandiri (JSX:BMRI), rose to
US$4.4 billion at present from US$400 million by the end of last
year.
The increase in the amount of third party funds held by the bank
was more on weak demand for credits, Thomas Arifin, the bank
treasury and international banking director said.
Demand for foreign exchange credits has dwindled with the slump
in the country's international trade, Thomas said.
As a result , the loan to deposit ratio of the bank for foreign
exchange shrank to 64 per cent at present from 80 per cent early
this year, he added.
He said non performing credits in foreign exchange is relatively
low at less than 1 per cent net.
---------------------------
Yamaha Leads In Motorcycle Market In Indonesia
JAKARTA, July 14 Asia Pulse - Yamaha took lead in motorcycle
market in Indonesia in June putting behind Honda, which has
continued to be dominant in annual sales.
Sales of Yamaha motorcycle totaled 218,614 units in June
slightly ahead of Honda's 216,876 units followed by Suzuki far
behind with sales at 42,425 units, the association of motorcycle
industry said.
Growing demand for its automatic scooters contributed to strong
performance of Yamaha in the domestic market, the association
said.
Honda producer PT Astra Honda Motor said it is set to regain the
market lead by increasing its production of automatic scooters.
-------------------------------
Indonesia's GMM To Increase Local Content Of Vw Car
JAKARTA, July 14 Asia Pulse - PT Garuda Mataram Motor (GMM) the
sole agent of Volkswagen (VW) in Indonesia said it will increase
the local content for its multi purpose vehicle (MPV), VW Touran.
By using higher local content the family sports car, the first
product VW car assembled in the country, could be sold 20 per
cent cheaper than its present price of Rp400 million (US$40,000)
per unit.
Jonas Chendana, the sales manager of GMM said price adjustment
could be made if the rupiah value is against euro and the US
dollar is stable.
Jonas said the company hopes to be able to cut the selling price
in 2010 when the rupiah stability is expected to be stronger.
This year the company hopes to sell at least 100 units of VW
Touran, which was first launched in the country in May.
-------------------------------
U.S. explores train revitalization project in Indonesia
JAKARTA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The government of the United States
of America (USA) is exploring chances to involve in the
revitalization program of Indonesian trains which needs funding
of around 200 trillion rupiah (around 20 billion U.S. dollars)
from 2010 to 2020, the Bisnis Indonesia daily quoted an official
as saying on Tuesday.
The Transportation Ministry's Director General for Trains
Tundjung Inderawan said that the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia
Cameron Hume has invited him to discuss programs that should be
carried out during the revitalization.
"I still don't know what it will be about precisely. The
ambassador only wants to talk about train revitalization," he
said.
Tundjung also said that a U.S. company, General Electric (GE)
Transportation, would strengthen its penetration in the country
by providing locomotives.
"One of the loan proposals for project from the GE
Transportation has not been processed. However it is in the blue
book of the National Development Planning Agency," he said,
referring to the list that included foreign loan or grant plans
for the middle-term.
The Chief Executive Officer of GE Transportation Lorenzo
Simonelli was scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding
with PT Kereta Api, the government-run train company, this week
related to the purchase of 20 locomotive units and leasing of
100 new locomotive units worth 40 million dollars.
----------------------------
Sales Of Cement In Indonesia Down 9.7% On-Year
JAKARTA, July 13 Asia Pulse - Sales of cement in Indonesia
shrank 9.7 per cent in the first half of this year to 17.17
million tons, from the same period last year on weak demand.
High interest rate slowed implementation of the property and
infrastructure projects, the largest user of cement in the
country, the association of cement producers said.
The selling prices of cement remained high despite the weak
demand with rising prices of energy mainly coal, association
chairman Urip Timuryono said.
In June alone sales fell 16 per cent to three million tons
compared with the same month last year, Urip told he newspaper
Investor Daily.
----------------------------
Indonesia Aims To Increase Shoe Exports This Year JAKARTA,
July 14 Asia Pulse - Indonesian shoe makers set an export target
of US$2 billion this year or an increase of 6.98 per cent from
last year's exports of US$1.87 billion.
The purchasing power of consumers in the export destination
countries is improving, the association of Indonesian shoe
companies said.
Association chairman Eddy Widjanarko predicted demand will grow
in the second half of this yea.
Widjanarko said seven new foreign companies have invested in
Indonesia's shoe making industry as they see improvement in the
market.
In addition, Indonesia gains from the unfavorable business
climate in two major rival suppliers China and Vietnam, he said.
Economic stability in Indonesia also contributes to attracting
buyers from abroad, he added.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Business & Trade updates from Jakarta















- Indonesia's Bakrieland Raises 150 Bln Rph From Sukuk
- Bank Negara Indonesia To Form Syndicate To Finance Credit For Excelcomindo
- Indonesian Finance Minister Hopes Investment Will Grow 7 Pct
- Kadin Calls On Indonesian Banks To Cut Lending Rates Soon
- Indonesia's Pelindo III To Expand Terminal Of Teluk Lamong Port
- Tourist Arrivals In Jakarta Up 22 Pct In May
- Indonesia's Coffee Exports Expected To Drop 40 Pct In 2009
- Indonesian Govt To Build Palm Oil Industrial Clusters
- Indonesia-UAE Trade Far Less Than Potential: Envoy
(Courtesy Joyo News Service)
Indonesia's Bakrieland Raises 150 Bln Rph From Sukuk
JAKARTA, July 9 (Reuters) - Indonesian property firm PT
Bakrieland Development Tbk raised 150 billion rupiah ($14.7
million), as targeted, from a sukuk issue to finance business
expansion, an underwriter told Reuters.
Bakrieland is part of the diversified Bakrie Group, controlled
by the family of cabinet minister Aburizal Bakrie.
The firm issued a two-year tranche with a coupon rate of 15.48
percent and a three-year tranche at 16 percent, according to
Djoko Purwanto at PT Bahana Securities which, together with PT
Madani Securities, underwrote the offering. ($1 = 10,210 Rupiah)
(Reporting by Sonya Angraini; Editing by Sara Webb)
-----------------------
Bank Negara Indonesia To Form Syndicate To Finance Credit For
Excelcomindo
JAKARTA, July 9 Asia Pulse - PT Bank Negara Indonesia is seeking
to lead a bank syndicate to finance a Rp1.5 trillion (US$105
million) credit requested by cellular phone operator PT
Excelcomindo Pratama (JSX:EXCL).
The management of the publicly traded state lender is seeking
other banks interested in joining the syndicate, a bank official
said.
BNI has invited the association of regional banks and PT Bank
Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Rosa Delima Muiari, its chief of
corporate banking division, said.
BNI already pledged loans for other telecommunications companies
including Rp1.7 trillion for PT Telkom and Rp750 billion for PT
Telkomsel in a syndicate with Bank Mandiri and Bank central Asia.
----------------------------
Indonesian Finance Minister Hopes Investment Will Grow 7 Pct
JAKARTA, July 9 Asia Pulse - Indonesian Finance Minister Sri
Mulyani Indrawati hopes investment will grow seven per cent to
support the economy so that it could grow four per cent this
year.
"If growth is still quite strong we hope investment in the
second quarter and in the second semester could grow higher than
in the first quarter which was recorded at 3.5 per cent," she
said here on Wednesday.
"We hope it could grow close to seven per cent so that our
economic growth could be close to or maintained above four per
cent," she said.
She said investment growth was expected to come from foreign
direct investment, bank credits, expenditures of state-owned and
private companies and also from the capital market.
Data from the finance ministry show investment is predicted to
grow 5.6 per cent and the economy 4.1 per cent in the first
semester this year.
Meanwhile economy is predicted to grow 4.6 per cent in the
second semester, supported by investment which is expected to
grow 9.2 per cent.
In 2009 the country`s economy is expected to grow 4.3 per cent,
supported by an investment growth of 7.4 per cent.
Foreign direct investment in the first semester this year
meanwhile is predicted to reach US$4.549 billion or up from the
same period last year reaching US$3.5 billion.
For the second semester it is predicted to reach US$1.704
billion, down from US$4.419 billion recorded in the same period
last year.
Foreign portfolio investment in the first semester this year is
predicted to be minus US$1.178 billion, down from minus US$288
million in the same period last year.
Foreign portfolio investment in the second semester of 2009 is
predicted to reach US$420 million, up from minus US$1.309
billion in the same period last year.
-----------------------------
Kadin Calls On Indonesian Banks To Cut Lending Rates Soon
JAKARTA, July 8 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (Kadin) has called on banks to immediately lower
their interest rates on credits in accordance with Bank
Indonesia's (BI/the central bank) recent action in cutting its
key rate by 25 basis points to 6.75 per cent.
"I appeal to banks to cut their lending rates soon so that
investors will be able to borrow money at relatively lower
interest rates," chairman of Kadin`s foreign investment
committee Chris Kanter said here on Tuesday.
He said the lending rates at present were still at the 13 per
cent level while a fair rate would be in the range of 10 to 11
per cent.
Kanter said the high bank lending rates at present posed
difficulties to investors intending to borrow large sums of
money.
"The central bank should urge banks to lower their lending rates
which are still high," he said.
The chairman of Kadin`s Permanent Committee for Internal Trade
Affairs, Bambang Soesatyo, had earlier said BI`s key rate cut by
25 basis points to 6.75 per cent would receive little response
from banks.
"I think banks will only give a small response to the BI Rate
cut. Their response will be linked to political developments in
the runup to the July 8, 2009 presidential election," he said.
Banks now even had no courage to extend credits or be inclined
to delay opening credit lines to businesses needing working
capital or investment funds.
"It is not impossible that banks will raise their lending rates
due to the increased weight of risks," he said.
But Bambang was convinced that banks` lending rates would
eventually follow the BI rate cut after the political situation
had become stable.
He said he was confused because the BI Rate no longer seemed to
function as a reference to the financial world in the country.
In January 2009, the BI Rate was cut to 8.75 per cent and then
to 8.25 per cent in February. Again in March it was lowered to
7.75 per cent, in April 7,50 per cent, May 7.25 per cent and
June 7 per cent. And it was cut again in July to 6.75 per cent.
"But banks` lending rates have stubbornly remained at the 13 per
cent level," he said.
------------------------------
Indonesia's Pelindo III To Expand Terminal Of Teluk Lamong Port
JAKARTA, July 9 Asia Pulse - Indonesian state owned seaport
operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III (Pelindo III) will build the
expansion of the terminal of Teluk Laming port in East Java.
Pelindo III will put up Rp1.6 trillion (US$160 million) of the
total cost of Rp2.5 trillion to build the project expected to be
completed in 2011, company spokesman Iwan Sabatini said.
The management is set to handle the project alone without
involving strategic investors, Iwan said, adding the project
will be built by phases.
Teluk Lamongan port is serving as an expansion of Surabaya's
Teluk Bayur port, the country's second largest port in East
Java, he said.
----------------------------
Tourist Arrivals In Jakarta Up 22 Pct In May
JAKARTA, July 8 Asia Pulse - A total of 124,928 foreign tourists
visited Jakarta in May 2009, up 22.32 per cent from a month
earlier, an official said.
The rise in the number of tourist arrivals was among others the
result of intensive tourism campaigns and media reports on the
conducive security situation in the capital city, the head of
the distribution statistics at the Jakarta office of the Central
Statistics Board (BPS), Dody Rudiyanto said here on Tuesday.
"The promotion campaigns and positive information were able to
shore up foreign tourists` confidence in visiting Jakarta," he
said.
Hopefully, the positive trend of tourist arrivals would continue
in the months ahead, he said.
Over the past four years, the capital three times saw a
significant increase in the number of tourist arrivals including
that in May 2009, he said.
Compared to the same period last year, however, the number of
tourist arrivals in May 2009 fell 2.99 per cent due to the
sluggish global economic growth in the first quarter, he said.
Malaysia topped the list of tourist arrivals in Jakarta in May
2009 with 24,940 tourists, followed by Singapore (10,950), China
(10,004), the United States (5,047), and Japan (5,031).
The tourist arrivals from the five countries accounted for 44.80
per cent of the total tourist arrivals in May 2009.
"This means that tourist arrivals from the five countries are
important for the tourism market in Jakarta," he said.
Overall, 445,394 foreign tourists visited Indonesia in May 2009,
a 8.03 per cent increase from a month earlier.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Coffee Exports Expected To Drop 40 Pct In 2009
JAKARTA, July 8 Asia Pulse - Indonesia`s coffee exports are
expected to drop 40 per cent from US$900 million in 2008 to
US$630 million in 2009, executive secretary of the Indonesian
Coffee Exporters Association (AEKI) Rachim Kartabrata said.
"The drop in the value of Indonesia`s coffee exports will be due
to the global financial crisis that has taken place since
October 2008," he said here on Tuesday.
He said that the coffee price had dropped since October 1, 2008,
when Indonesian Robusta coffee price declined from US$2.2 per kg
to US$1.1 per kg while that of Arabika type from US$2.8 per kg
to US$2.3 per kg.
The export volume also decreased 20 per cent from 420,000 tons
in 2008 to 350,000 tons this year, of which 80 per cent were
Robusta coffee and 20 per cent were Arabica.
He said that Indonesia Robusta coffee was exported mostly to
West Europe, Japan, East Europe and the United States, while
most of the Arabica coffee was exported to the United States and
Japan.
Kartabrata said that globally coffee drinkers took 70 per cent
Arabica coffee while only 30 per cent of Robusta one.
He said that Arabica coffee has excellent aroma and taste while
Robusta coffee was taken only as market complement only.
Rahim Kartabrata said last month that cooperation between
Indonesia and Vietnam in managing the Robusta coffee trade was a
way to change the present situation where the commodity`s market
price was in reality determined at will by a handful of fund
managers at the London commodity exchange.
He said trading in Robusta coffee which is considered to be a
second-grade type of coffee was often affected by the market
price of Arabica coffee the supply of which was mostly
controlled by Latin and Central American countries through the
New York bourse.
A crisis at the the New York bourse would immediately affect the
Robusta coffee price at the London bourse.
"If Indonesia and Vietnam can handle the market through joint
actions, a positive sentiment will no doubt prevail in the
market, and this will boost the Robusta coffee price at the
farmer`s level," Rahim said.
-----------------------------
Indonesian Govt To Build Palm Oil Industrial Clusters
JAKARTA, July 9 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian government will
build integrated clusters of palm oil industry in Seimangkel,
North Sumatra and in Melangke in North Sulawesi.
The cluster projects will include oil palm plantations and palm
oil-based industries, Plantation Director General Achmad Mangga
Barani said.
The clusters are expected to be operational in the next two
years, Mangga Barani said, adding work is already in progress
starting with land clearing .
He said currently the world largest producer of crude palm oil
(CPO) has 7.1 million hectares of oil palm plantations.
In the first phase, the government plans to build bio-diesel
plants with a total capacity of 400,000 tons a year to be
followed with construction of CPO-based industries, he said.
This year, the country hopes to turn out 21 million tons of CPOl
and 60% of which are to be processed locally to produce palm oil
derivatives like cooking oil and margarine as well as
bio-diesel, he said.
So far the country have exported most of CPO production.
------------------------------
Indonesia-UAE Trade Far Less Than Potential: Envoy
JAKARTA, July 9 Asia pulse - Trade relations between the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indonesia in 2008 increased 44 per cent
to US$2.18 billion but this was still not a true picture of the
potential of the relationship, said Indonesian Ambassador to the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) M. Wahid Supriyadi.
Indonesia, with a population of more than 230 million, and as
the biggest economic power in South East Asia with a high
consumer confidence, Indonesia was actually a good trade partner
for the UAE, the ambassador said.
The Indonesian embassy in Abu Dhabi said Wednesday that
Indonesia`s economic growth in the first quarter reached 4.4 per
cent, the third highest in Asia after China at 6.1 per cent and
India at 5.7 per cent.
Supriyadi said this was caused by the high domestic consumption
and a lack of dependence on exports, which accounted for only
one third of GDP. He quoted a Nielsen survey on consumer
confidence index in Indonesia which is the highest in the world
at 104 points followed by Denmark (102) and India (99).
Unlike neighbors Thailand and Singapore, Indonesia is relatively
unknown to the people of the UAP.
This fact is apparent from the small number of UAE tourists to
Indonesia, compared to those visiting Thailand (80,000),
Singapore (51,168), and Malaysia (34,994).
Tourist visits numbering in the thousands was also caused by the
relatively small budget for Indonesia`s tourist promotion,
Supriyadi said.
But the envoy believed that Indonesia had more diversified
potentials and many leading travel magazines had even called
Bali the most beautiful island in the world.
UAE investment in Indonesia was relatively small at only US$22
million.
Eight UAE companies have committed to investing more than US$7
billion in the tourism sector in Lombok (Emaar), the
construction of Asia`s biggest shipbuilding yard (Dubai Drydock
World and Fabtech International), the development of an
epicentral business zone in Kuningan (Limitless), and in the
coal sector (RAK Mineral and Metal Investment, RMMI).
------------------------------------------

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Business,Trade, Oil, Gas, Mining updates from Jakarta










27 Reports:
- Mandiri Tunas Set To Be 3rd Largest Finance Firm In Indonesia
- Bank Negara Indonesia 08 Net Profit Was IDR1.22 Tln
- Indonesia's BNI To Provide Extra Loan Of $25 Mln For PT PAL
– Indonesia c.bank says 1-month SBI rate at 8.11241 pct
– Indonesia's Per Capita Debts Increased 32% In 2009
- Indonesia Govt Swaps IDR30 Bln Existing Bonds With New Bonds
- Fewer Visitors To Indonesia In February
- Indonesia's Berlian Laju Tanker Doubles Profit To $142 Mln
- Indonesian Cargo Volumes, Passenger Numbers Declining
- Indonesia Doubted To Be Able To Implement Cabotage Principle
- Indonesia's Growth To Depend On Domestic Consumption: BPS
- Indonesia's Steel Imports Down 39.6%
- Portion Of Primary Goods In Indonesian Export Too Big:
- 15 Indonesian Firms May Export Without Letter Of Credit
- PT Mitra Adiperkasa Reports Loss Despite Increase In Income
- Indonesia's Lippo Karawaci Posts $33.6 Mln In Net Profit
- Indonesia's Fish Exports Projected At 4 Million Tons This Year
- Higher Soybean Demand Seen for Indonesia
- BP Expected To Announce Plan To Sell BP West Java
- Indonesia Govt Advised To Resist Japanese Pressure Over Senoro
- Jakarta Consortium To Finance 16 Power Projects
- Indonesia's Petral fails to buy 88 RON gasoline for midApril
- Indonesia Jan-Feb Avg Crude,Condensate Prodn 963,269 Bbl/Day
- Chevron set to appoint deepwater project contractors
- Indonesia to hike March Minas ICP by $3.81 to $48.51/b: source
- TABLE-Indonesia March Minas crude rises to $48.51/bbl
- India's GMR eyes Southeast Asia energy deals
(Reports courtesy Joyo News Service)




Mandiri Tunas Set To Be 3rd Largest Finance Firm In Indonesia
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - PT Mandiri Tunas Finance is set to
make a big step in the next two years, to break into the rank of
five largest financing firms in Indonesia in 2010 and three
largest in 2011.
This year the target of the company, which is controlled by Bank
Mandiri, the country's largest lender, is to spend Rp3 trillion
(US$261 million) to finance the purchase of motor vehicles.
Commercial Director of Bank Mandiri Zulkifli Zaini said Mandiri
Tunas will expand its financing business with new credit of Rp4
trillion in 2010 and Rp5 trillion in 2011.
Financing industry dominates 78 per cent of credit market in the
motor vehicle sector with banks accounting for only 12 per cent.
Bank Mandiri took control of the financing firm formerly named
PT Tunas Financindo Sarana after acquiring 51 per cent stake
from the old downers PT Tunas Ridean and PT Tunas Mobilindo.
-------------------------
Bank Negara Indonesia 08 Net Profit Was IDR1.22 Tln
JAKARTA, April 1 (Dow Jones)--Bank Negara Indonesia (BBNI.JK),
Indonesia's fourth-largest bank by assets, is "optimistic" it
can achieve an increase in net profit of 15% to 16% this year,
the bank's chief executive said Wednesday.
"We are optimistic net profit in 2009 can grow around 15% to
16%, from net profit last year of IDR1.22 trillion. That is in
line with our credit growth, which we are also predicting around
the level" of 15% to 16%, Chief Executive Gatot Suwondo told Dow
Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a summit held at the
Ministry for State-Owned Enterprises' Affairs.
At the end of 2008, BNI's total outstanding credit was IDR111.99
trillion, up 26% from IDR88.65 trillion a year earlier. The
company said Monday its net profit in 2008 was 36% higher than
IDR898 billion in 2007.
Suwondo said BNI had asked the government to allow it to reduce
its dividend payout ratio from 50%, in order to maintain a
capital adequacy ratio around 13% as it looks to expand credit
this year.
He said that conditions on the local bond and equity markets
would make raising funds there too expensive.
"There's no other way" to maintain CAR than by reducing dividend
payouts, Suwondo said.
BNI is majority-owned by the Indonesian government, with 23.6%
of its shares held by the public.
----------------------------
Indonesia's BNI To Provide Extra Loan Of $25 Mln For PT PAL
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI)
(JSX:BBNI) has agreed to provide additional loan of US$25.6
million for state shipbuilding company PT PAL Indonesia.
PT PAL will use the fund to build four tankers on orders from
Turkey and Italy, Gatot Murdianto Suwondo, the president of the
state bank , which already provided a loan of US$83 million
earlier for PT PAL Gatot said the two state companies have
reached an agreement that BNI will finance projects to be built
by PT PAL.
PT PAL President Harsusanto said three of the ships are chemical
tankers for Italy and a 50,000 ton tanker bulker for Turkey.
PT PAL also has secured 18 similar orders to be financed by
other state financers including PT Bank Mandiri (JSX;BMRI), PT
Bank Ekspor Indonesia and PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset,
Harsusanto was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
----------------------------
Indonesia c.bank says 1-month SBI rate at 8.11241 pct
JAKARTA, April 1 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank announced
a one-month SBI interest rate of 8.11241 percent in an auction
on Wednesday, compared to 8.21080 percent in the previous
auction. (Reporting by Dicky Kristanto; Writing by Tyagita
Silka; Editing by Sara Webb)
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Per Capita Debts Increased 32% In 2009
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia pulse - Indonesia's external debts per
capita in 2009 increased by 32 per cent compared with that in
2004, economic observer Ichsanudin Noorsy of the Indonesia Rise
Team (TIB), said.
"The burden of the people now is heavier than it was in 2004
because Indonesia's debt burden is also bigger," Noorsy said at
a discussion here on Wednesday.
He said that from the aspect of gross domestic product (GDP),
Indonesia's external debts in percentage dropped from 56 per
cent to 31 per cent.
However, from the per capita aspect, Indonesia's debt burden
increased from Rp5.8 million (US$504.60) per person to Rp7.7
million per person.
In 2004, Indonesia's population number was recorded at 217
million. In 2009, it rose to 227 million, Noorsy said. "So, it's
great to say our debts are declining," he added.
Noorsy who is an economic observer of the University of Gajah
Mada in Yogyakarta said that Indonesia's external debts in 2004
were recorded at Rp1,205 trillion, which in February 2009
increased to Rp1,667 trillion.
In the meantime, he said, the value of state debentures (SBN)
the government sold to the foreign parties also increased. In
2005, the value of the SBN was Rp656 trillion while in 2009 it
has reached Rp920 trillion.
-----------------------------
Indonesia Govt Swaps IDR30 Bln Existing Bonds With New Bonds
JAKARTA, April 1 (Dow Jones)--The Indonesian government Tuesday
swapped IDR30 billion of existing bonds with new paper maturing
in June 2021.
The total amount that investors sought to swap was IDR369
billion, the Finance Ministry said.
Analysts said the response was poor as such auctions usually
attract bids worth trillions of rupiah.
They said the response wasn't surprising as the government
sought to sell the new bonds at 101.5% of par, while similar
bonds in the secondary market were quoting at 99.75%.
---------------------------
Fewer Visitors To Indonesia In February
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - The number of foreign tourists
visiting the country dropped 9.43 per cent to 421,555 in
February from 465,400 the same period last year, an official
record said.
The decline was 10.91 per cent compared to 473,165 visitors in
previous month,, head of the Central Bureau of Statistics Rusman
Heriawan said.
Heriawan attributed the decline to seasonal factor saying
February was low season with shorter days and to the global
financial crisis.
Meanwhile, the occupancy rates recorded by star rated hotels
down from an average of 45.10 per cent in January to 44.54 per
cent in February, the newspaper Media Indonesia said.
----------------------------
Indonesia's Berlian Laju Tanker Doubles Profit To $142 Mln
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - The net profit of tanker ship
operator PT Berlian Laju Tanker (JSX:BLTA) shot up 105.26 per
cent to Rp1.56 trillion (US$142 million) in 2008 from Rp758.98
billion in the previous year.
The increase in net profit was attributable mainly to 92.39 per
cent increase to Rp7 trillion in operating income from Rp3.64
trillion in 2007, its finance director Kevin Wong said.
Chembulk Tankers LLC , which the company acquired in 2007
contributed around 50 per cent to the total income, Wong was
quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
Chembulk Tankers LC has doubled the carrying capacity of the oil
fuel and liquid chemical carrier company, which is listed on the
Indonesian Stock Exchange, Wong said.
BEI said Berlian plans to issue bond valued at Rp500 billion by
the end of the first half of this year and has named PT Danatama
Makmur and PT AAA Securities as the lead underwriters.
Earlier Wong said the company needed fund to buy up to 5 units
of ships valued at US$280 million to strengthen its fleet.
The company will buy a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker and 3
or 4 units of chemical tankers from Japan and South Korea to
bring the number of its vessels to 93 units, Wong said.
----------------------------
Indonesian Cargo Volumes, Passenger Numbers Declining
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia pulse - Indonesia's Central Board of
Statistics (BPS) has recorded a decline in the number of
passengers and volumes of cargoes in the train, sea and air
transportation in February 2009.
"In February 2009, the number of train passengers was recorded
at 13.87 million, which showed a decline of 4.31 per cent
compared with that in January 2009," BPS Head Rusman Heriawan
said here on Wednesday.
In the meantime, he said the volumes of cargoes transported by
trains in February 2009 were recorded at 1.42 million tons or a
decline by 7.01 per cent.
In the January-February 2009 period, the number of passengers
totalled 28.36 million, or a decline of 3.54 per cent, and the
volume of cargoes was 2.94 million tons, or a drop of 6.06 per
cent compared with those in the corresponding period in 2008.
The number of passengers in the sea transportation in the
January-February 2009 period reached 929,800, which was
declining by 2.98 per cent compared with that in the same period
a year earlier.
At the same time, the number of passengers in the domestic air
transportation was recorded at 2.43 million, or a decline of
10.55 per cent. The same case was true to air passengers for
foreign destinations, where the number of passengers declined
7.68 per cent to 502,400.
---------------------------
Indonesia Doubted To Be Able To Implement Cabotage Principle
JAKARTA, April 1 Asia Pulse - Doubt begins to linger over the
readiness of Indonesia to fully implement the cabotage principle
as scheduled in 2011.
The country will need many additional ships to be able to fully
implement the cabotage principle, which bans foreign ships from
carrying domestic cargoes.
The principle has been implemented by phases following the
presidential instruction in 2005.
Under the principle, foreign ships are still allowed to carry
coal and oil commodities but only up to a deadline several
months from now, Sea Transport Director General Sunaryo said.
Bambang Sunsanto, a deputy at the office of the chief economic
minister said the country needs at least 654 medium sized ships
valued around US$4.6 billion to be ready fully take over the
jobs in domestic shipping.
Financial support from banks will be needed , but most banks are
still reluctant to provide credits for shipping industry , which
is considered carrying high risk, the news paper Investor Daily
said.
----------------------------
Indonesia's Growth To Depend On Domestic Consumption: BPS
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia pulse - The Central Board of Statistics
(BPS) said Indonesia's economic growth still could be boosted if
domestic consumption increased drastically.
"It is the domestic consumption that can help economic growth
because our export continues to go down while investment is
still running at a moderate rate," BPS chairman Rusman Heriawan
said on Wednesday.
He said that the 2009 state budget had set an economic growth
target of 4.5 - 5.5 per cent while Bank Indonesia (BI the
central bank) had predicted that Indonesia's economic growth
this year would grow at a rate between 3.0 and 4.0 per cent.
The BPS chairman said that the government's fiscal stimuli
should be implemented immediately so that it would soon boost
the activities of economic expansion by the private sector and
the people.
"Social expenditures should be high so that it could generate
industry which has lost its export market. Now the market that
still could develop is the domestic market that needs to be
boosted with fiscal stimulus so that the purchasing power of the
people could be raised," he said.
Heriawan said that up to now domestic consumption was still at a
normal level which indicated that there was still a chance to
boost it further in order to support the economic growth.
"The people's consumption is apparently still strong as it seems
that no market has experienced gloom," the BPS chairman added.
------------------------------
Indonesia's Steel Imports Down 39.6%
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's steel imports were
valued at US$1.08 billion in the first two months of this year,
down 39.6 per cent from the same period last year.
Despite the decline, imports continue to hurt the domestic
industry as indicated by the low capacity utilization of the
country's steel factories now averaging 42 per cent.
Executive Director of The Indonesian Association of Iron and
Steel Industry Hidajat Triseputro , however, noted improvement
in the first two months of this year.
Excess in stocks from the last quarter of 2008 has started to
decline, Hidajay told the newspaper Investor daily.
Strong demand earlier in 2008, boosted steel production but the
financial crisis in the last quarter of that year dampened the
market resulting in large stocks.
-------------------------------
Portion Of Primary Goods In Indonesian Export Too Big: Economist
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia pulse - The composition of primary goods
in Indonesia's exports is too big so that Indonesia's export
performance in the current global economic crisis is declining,
an economic observer said.
"The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) report that our exports
dropped in January and February makes sense because the portion
of primary goods in our exports is too big," said Hendri
Saparaini, an economist of the Awaken Indonesia Team (YIB), said
here on Wednesday.
He said the drop in Indonesia exports in January and February
2009 was more caused by a decline in the prices of primary
commodities in the world market.
"About 63 per cent of our exports in 2007 consisted of
unprocessed primary goods," he said.
The performance of Indonesia's exports in 2007 and in early 2008
was still relatively good because demand for primary goods in
the world market was high.
"After all, the prices of primary goods at that time were still
good. But now the prices have dropped," the economic observer
said.
To reverse the trend, he said. Indonesia should be able to
produce goods with added value and stop exporting goods in the
form of raw materials.
By turning out commodities with added value, Indonesia would
have a sharper competitive edge in the world market.
In the meantime, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that
Indonesia's exports in the January-February 2009 period dropped
by 34.52 per cent compared with a year earlier.
BPS head Rusman Heriawan in his report said that Indonesia's
exports in the first two months of 2009 reached US$14.23
billion. Exports in February 2009 stood at US$7.08 billion,
which showed a decline by 1.02 per cent compared with that in
January 2009.
However, if the exports in February 2009 are compared with those
in February 2008, the decline stood at 36.86 per cent.
-----------------------------
15 Indonesian Firms May Export Without Letter Of Credit
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia pulse - Fifteen Indonesian mining
companies and CPO producers with long-term contracts with their
buyers, will be allowed to export their commodities without
Letter of Credit (L/C).
The statement was made by Director General of Foreign Trade at
the Ministry of Trade Diah Maulida in Jakarta Wednesday, adding
that most of these privileged companies are coal exporters which
were supposed to use an L/C in the export of their commodities
as of April 1, 2009.
The postponement in using L/C for the 15 companies is valid
until August 31, 2009, after which the export of all mining
commodities, tin, CPO, coffee, and rubber, needs to use an L C.
Maulida added that these companies, however, when exporting
their commodities are required to mention the method of their
transaction payments in their goods export notification (PEB).
Earlier, the trade ministry received 14 applications a mining
company and four CPO producers for a postponement of exports
with L/C.
The government required the use L/C as of April 1, 2009, for the
export of mining commodities, tin bars and CPO, while for the
export of coffee and rubber, this ruling will be imposed as of
August 31.
Under Decree of the Minister of Trade No.10/2009 on the use of
L/C in exports, the export of these commodities whose value is
higher than 1 million US dollars, must use an L/C.
------------------------------
PT Mitra Adiperkasa Reports Loss Despite Increase In Income
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - Publicly listed Indonesian retail
company PT Mitra Adiperkasa (JSX:MAPI) reported loss of Rp69.7
billion (US$6.3 million) despite an increase in sales in 2008.
Mitra recorded a 24 per cent increase in sales to Rp4.85
trillion in 2008 from Rp3.91 trillion in the previous year.
Foreign exchange loss of Rp280 billion caused the setback in the
performance of the company last year after posting a net profit
of Rp115.4 billion in the previous year, a company official said.
The company posted Rp1.84 trillion in gross profit up 22 per
cent and Rp303 billion in operating profit up 14 per cent,
investor relations officer Ratih D Gianda was quoted as saying
by the newspaper Investor Daily.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Lippo Karawaci Posts $33.6 Mln In Net Profit
JAKARTA, April 1 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's PT Lippo Karawaci
(JSX:LPKR) recorded Rp371 billion (US$33.6 million) in net
profit in 2008 or a 5 per cent increase from Rp353 billion in
the previous year.
All divisions including property and non property divisions
recorded an increase in sales contributing to the rise in net
profit, its President Eddy Handoko said.
Sales rose 22 per cent to Rp2.6 trillion from Rp2.1 trillion
with gross profit rising to R1.2 trillion from Rp1.1 trillion.
Health care and infrastructure divisions were the largest
contributors to the income of the company in 2008, Eddy said.
Eddy said this year the company will expand business in housing
and land development, healthcare, and infrastructure sectors.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Fish Exports Projected At 4 Million Tons This Year
BENGKULU, April 1 Asia Pulse - Indonesia has projected its fish
exports at four million tons worth US$2.8 billion this year.
Director General of Fish Management and Marketing at the Marine
and Fishery Ministry Prof Martani Husainai said here on Tuesday
that the projection was little bit higher than last year's
USD2.6 billion.
"While Indonesian's fish consumption was still high, production
capacity reached only four million tons per year," he said.
Furthermore, Martani said till now the United States is still
the biggest destination of Indonesia's fish exports, followed by
Japan and the European Union.
According to him, the lack of facilities and infrastructure for
fish catching and processing in some regions had caused
Indonesia's fish production to be low, while Indonesia's waters
are still abundant with fish.
"Bengkulu's waters for instance, are abundant in fish, but it
still lacked the infrastructure," he said.
In the western region, West Sumatra province was the biggest
producer of special fishes such as Tuna, and according to him
this condition should be used by Bengkulu to cooperate in a bid
to increase the fish production.
In the meantime, head of the marine and fishery representative
office in Bengkulu, Maman Suherman said his side was building a
national fish port in Bengkulu to make use of the existing fish
potentials in that waters.
----------------------------
The Jakarta Globe
Friday, April 3, 2009
Higher Soybean Demand Seen for Indonesia
Singapore. Indonesia, the largest US export market for soybeans
in Southeast Asia, is likely to increase purchases of the beans
this year, a US executive said, despite an overall decline in
demand in Southeast Asia predicted at as much as 10 percent.
The country’s slowing economy may boost spending on tofu and
tempe, made from fermented soybeans and used as a meat
substitute, the American Soybean Association’s regional
director, John Lindblom, said in an interview in Singapore on
Wednesday, without providing a forecast.
The American Soybean Association represents 22,000 soybean
farmers in the United States.
“We’re selling a lot of soybeans in Indonesia,” Lindblom said.
“This economic crisis must be hurting them. When the economy is
good again, they’ll probably switch back to meat.”
Indonesia’s use of soybeans as a meat substitute goes against
the overall trend in Southeast Asia, where the beans are used
more for livestock feed, he said. For this reason, demand for
soybean meal in the region is expected to decline by as much as
10 percent as people seek to replace meat in their diet and lack
of credit hurts small livestock farmers and feed millers,
Lindblom said.
Use of the meal as an ingredient in feed for pigs, poultry and
shrimp, may drop from 9.5 million metric tons last year,
Lindblom said.
“A lot of the smaller feed millers, small pig and poultry
farmers in the Philippines and Thailand couldn’t compete because
of the high prices,” he said.
Borrowing costs surged after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
collapsed in September, prompting some banks to hoard cash and
choking off lending to small feed millers and livestock farmers.
“Since last year, a lot of exporters were already starting to be
more selective of their customers, taking a closer look at their
credit worthiness,” Lindblom said.
Soybean meal futures declined 11 percent in Chicago in the past
year. The contract for May delivery gained 0.6 percent to
$296.10 a ton on the Chicago Board of Trade at 11:41 a.m.
Singapore time on Thursday. Bloomberg
------------------------------------------
BP Expected To Announce Plan To Sell BP West Java
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - Oil giant BP is expected to
announce plan to sell its subsidiary BP West Java Ltd, which has
a 46 per cent stake in the project of Offshore North West Java
(ONWJ)
BP ONWJ is one of the largest operators of offshore oil fields
in Indonesia with its working area expanding in the Java Sea
from Cirebon to the Thousand islands.
The announcement by BP is expected after the Upstream Oil and
Gas Regulator (BP Migas) agrees to allow potential buyers to
access its data room.
The data room holds data of the oil and gas fields of BP West
Java including reserves needed by the potential buyers, Nico
Kanter, country head of BP Indonesia said.
The BP Migas agreement will mark the start of process of sales,
Kanter said, adding interesting investors may make their offer
based on the data.
A final deal is expected to be signed by the end of this year,
he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
---------------------------
Indonesia Govt Advised To Resist Japanese Pressure Over Senoro
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia pulse - The Indonesian government should
not let itself be dictated by Japan with regard to the liquefied
natural gas (LNG) refinery project in the Senoro field in
Southeast Sulawesi, an energy observer said on Wednesday.
Energy affairs observer Pri Agung Rakhmanto said a letter sent
by Japanese ambassador to Indonesia Kojiro Shiojiri on the slow
progress in the Senoro refinery project was a form of
intervention, although such a letter was normal in the energy
business.
"This is because energy, economically and politically, is a
strategic commodity for a country," he said.
He said the government should have the courage to take a firm
decision with regard to the price and the designation of its gas
production.
A similar view was expressed by Sofyano Zakaria, executive
director of the Public Policy Studies Center (Puskepi).
"It is inappropriate for the Japanese ambassador to intervene in
the Senoro project because the project is a matter of business
relations between state-owned oil company Pertamina, Medco and
Mitsubishi," he said.
He said the government should be consistent in implementing
existing regulations on the oil and gas industry.
Wanandi said companies involved in the Senoro gas project should
comply with their 25 per cent domestic market obligation (DMO)
based on Law No.22 / 2001 on oil and gas.
"This is despite the fact that the work contracts were made in
1997 before the law on oil and gas was enacted in 2001," he
added.
In fact, he said, in the absence of the law, the government
could oblige Pertamina and PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk
(JSX:MEDC) to sell their gas to the market at home and not
export it.
In his letter, the Japanese ambassador asked President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono to realize the LNG project soon because it
involved Mitsubishi Corporation (TSE;8058), which, he said,
could affect the energy relations between Japan and Indonesia.
In the project, which is expected to have a production capacity
of 2.1 million tons per annum and to begin operation in 2013,
Mitsubishi has a 51 per cent stake while Pertamina and Medco
have 29 per cent and 20 per cent stakes, respectively.
--------------------------
Jakarta Consortium To Finance 16 Power Projects
JAKARTA, April 2 Asia Pulse - A consortium of regional
administration banks (BPD) led by Jakarta's BPD (PT Bank DKI)
has agreed to provide Rp5 trillion (US$454 million) to finance
the construction of 16 steam powered electric plants outside
Java.
President of PT Bank DKI Winny Erwindia said the consortium
would group 22 BPDs, with Bank DKI as the lead arranger, and
Bank Papua, Bank Jatim and Bank Kaltim as co-arrangers.
Bank DKI alone would contribute up to Rp1 trillion to the
credit, she said.
The fund was expected to be available this month, pending an
endorsement by the finance minister that guarantees the projects.
The guarantee by the government would benefit the banks, with
less risk to be faced and in lending to the maximum limit, she
was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
----------------------------
Platts Commodity News
April 2, 2009
Indonesia's Petral fails to buy 88 RON gasoline for midApril
Singapore -- Indonesia's Petral, the trading arm of state-owned
oil and gas company Pertamina, has failed to award a tender to
buy 88 RON gasoline for mid-April as it considered the offers
received as too high, trading sources said Thursday.
The tender sought a 200,000-barrel cargo for delivery over April
14-16 into Jakarta.
The lowest offer submitted into the tender was at a premium of
around $2/barrel to the Mean of Platts Singapore 92 RON gasoline
assessments on a CFR basis, market sources said. However, this
was considered high compared with Pertamina's recently concluded
term premium of 65 cents/b, on a delivered basis, for the second
quarter.
Petral has yet to seek alternative cargoes for the month.
Pertamina plans to import 4.5-5 million barrels of gasoline in
April, and has so far tied up 4.4 million barrels of 88 RON and
92 RON gasoline imports, sources said.
Irene Tang, irene_t...@platts.com
-----------------------------
Indonesia Jan-Feb Avg Crude,Condensate Prodn 963,269 Bbl/Day
JAKARTA, April 1 (Dow Jones)--Indonesia's output of crude oil
and condensates averaged 963,269 barrels a day over the
January-February period, the Department of Energy and Mineral
Resources said in a statement on its Web site Wednesday.
In February, the production of crude and condensate averaged
966,845 barrels/day, 6,807 barrels a day higher than January's
average production of 960,038 barrels/day, as several oil
contractors increased production.
Between Jan. 1 and March 16, the production of crude and
condensates averaged 960,374 barrels/day, the statement said.
It also said Pertamina EP, a unit of state oil and gas firm PT
Pertamina, increased crude and condensate production by 694
barrels/day in February to 117,628 barrels/day.
PetroChina International Jabung Ltd. increased February output
by 4,168 barrels/day to 19,068 barrels/day as its Betara plant
came back online after maintenance, the statement said.
With this level of production, the 960,000 barrels/day crude and
condensate production target set in the 2009 state budget should
be achieved, it added.
------------------------
Platts Commodity News April 1, 2009
Chevron set to appoint Indonesian deepwater project contractors
Jakarta -- The Indonesian division of US oil major Chevron is
set to begin the process of appointing contractors to the
front-end engineering and design process for its deepwater
project in the country's Makassar Straits, a senior official
said Tuesday.
"The tender process for FEED will be done in the next few
months," said Chevron IndoAsia managing director Steve Green.
Chevron is expected to reach its final investment decision on
the deepwater project by 2011, according to Green.
The company had planned to invest $7 billion to develop the
deepwater areas, with first production of 150 million cu
feet/day scheduled to be on stream by 2013. This figure is set
to rise to a peak production rate of 900 million cu feet/day by
2015, according to the planning deputy of Indonesia's upstream
regulator BPMigas Achmad Luthfi.
In August 2008, the Indonesian government formally approved
Chevron's development plans in Gandang, Gendalo, Maha, Ranggas
and Gehem fields which are located in offshore East Kalimantan.
Chevron supplies gas to the Badak LNG plant in Bontang, East
Kalimantan to meet Indonesia's LNG commitments to Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan.
The deepwater areas are jointly owned by Chevron (80%) and
Italy's Eni (20%).
---------------------------
Platts Commodity News April 1, 2009
Indonesia to hike March Minas ICP by $3.81 to $48.51/b: source
Singapore -- Indonesia's upstream regulator BPMigas is expected
to hike the Indonesian Crude Price for Minas in March to
$48.51/barrel, which will be $3.81/b higher than the February
ICP of $44.70/b, an industry source said Wednesday.
However, the increase for the March ICP for Duri will be much
lower due to poor demand and low prices for fuel oil. The Duri
ICP is seen at $38.95/b, an increase of $2.77/b from the
previous month.
Indonesia settles the monthly ICPs based on an average of Platts
and RIM assessments. For March, the ICP for Ardjuna is expected
to settle at $48.15/b, $5.03/b higher than in February. BPMigas
is expected to settle the March ICPs for Cinta at $45.40/b, up
$4.12/b from February.
The March ICPs for the Indonesian grades are expected to be as
follows ($/barrel):
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Minas 138.73 118.74 101.95 76.42 55.94 41.68 44.66 44.70 48.51
Attaka 139.67 119.77 102.52 73.45 51.46 42.34 43.72 44.38 48.72
Senipah 132.27 112.93 95.75 64.59 38.71 27.67 38.41 43.89 47.76
Ardjuna 135.27 115.02 99.32 69.89 48.50 38.76 41.99 43.12 48.15
Cinta 131.46 112.43 96.29 66.65 46.49 39.41 38.88 41.28 45.40
Duri 118.57 103.10 88.73 58.88 39.29 32.16 33.74 36.18 38.95
Widuri 131.95 113.02 96.92 67.28 47.24 38.70 39.55 40.76 43.66
Belida 139.86 119.98 102.79 73.75 51.33 41.19 43.18 43.81 48.16
Handil 135.42 115.17 99.47 70.04 48.65 38.91 42.14 43.27 48.30
Walio 138.53 118.54 101.75 76.22 55.74 41.48 44.46 44.50 48.31
Lalang 138.78 118.79 102.00 76.47 55.99 41.73 44.71 44.75 48.56
Calvin Lee, calvin_...@platts.com
-------------------------
TABLE-Indonesia March Minas crude rises to $48.51/bbl
TOKYO, April 1 (Reuters) - The official Indonesia Crude Price
(ICP) for Minas has been calculated at $48.51 a barrel for
March, an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter
said on Wednesday.
The March price was up $3.81 from February, when it was set at
$44.70.
The ICPs for key grades were calculated as follows, in dollars
per barrel:
CRUDE FEBRUARY MARCH CHANGE
Minas 44.70 48.51 3.81
Ardjuna 43.12 48.15 5.03
Senipah Condensate 43.89 47.76 3.87
Attaka 44.38 48.72 4.34
Cinta 41.28 45.40 4.12
Duri 36.18 38.95 2.77
Widuri 40.76 43.66 2.90
Belida 43.81 48.16 4.35
Handil Mix 43.27 48.30 5.03
Lalang 44.75 48.56 3.81
Badak 44.38 48.72 4.34
Walio 44.50 48.31 3.81
From July 2007, Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) formula uses average
prices assessed by Platts (50 percent) and Japan's Rim (50
percent). (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Chris
Gallagher)
--------------------------
India's GMR eyes Southeast Asia energy deals
SINGAPORE, April 1 (Reuters) - India's GMR Infrastructure said
on Wednesday it had hired a former Temasek [TEM.UL] official to
head a new office in Singapore that will focus on power projects
in Southeast Asia.
Ng Quek Peng, the Singapore state investor's former managing
director for portfolio management, will oversee GMR's existing
operations in Southeast Asia and Australia as well as seek new
investment opportunities in the region.
"In the immediate future, we will concentrate more on power
generation because that is what is lacking, particularly in
Vietnam and Indonesia," Ng told reporters in Singapore.
GMR, which is headquartered in Bangalore, builds and manages
infrastructure projects such as airports and power plants. Its
operations in Asia outside of India include power generating
plants in the Philippines and Australia. (Reporting by Kevin
Lim; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
------------------------------------------

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Business,Trade, Oil, Gas, Mining updates from Jakarta


Business, Trade, Oil, Gas & Mining Updates from Indonesia
(Courtesy Joyo News Service)
- Foreign Investors Acquire 8 Indonesian Steel Makers
- Indofarma, Kimia Farma Aim for No. 1 With Merger
- Indonesia's Bank Permata To Get $200 Mln Capital Injection
- Sun Life Indonesia And CIMB To Establish Joint Venture
- Indonesian Eximbank To Open Branch In Singapore
- Citi Financial Indonesia Eyes Larger Share In Small Biz Credit Mkt
- Indonesia's Astra Sedaya Sells Bonds Valued At $81.8 Mln
- Indocement Repays Remaining Debt To Hc Finance Bv
- Indonesian Construction Co Wika To Build Asphalt Plant
- Indonesian Govt Fails To Meet Target To Build Low Cost Apartments
- Indonesian Retail Co Matahari Overshoots Income Target
- Mercedes To Spend $18 Mln On Indonesian Assembling Facility
- Riau Airlines To Buy Three Planes To Boost Its Services
- Indonesian Plantation Co Lonsum Posts 64% Rise In Net Profit
- Indonesia's CPO Exports Forecast To Rise 7% This Year
- Minister Presents PNPM Assistance To Indonesia's S Kalimantan
- Pertamina Won't Lift LPG Price During Indonesian Election Period
- Indonesia may seek other LNG buyers if contracted cargoes dropped
- Senoro LNG Project To Start This Year In Sulawesi
- Damaged Grissik-Singapore Gas Pipeline To Be Fixed This Month
- Pertamina delays shutdown of Cilacap aromatics unit by a week
- Indonesia's Chandra Asri to run cracker at 80% rate in April
- Pertamina Plans To Cut 2Q Gasoline Term Buys -Traders
- Indonesia's PLN Buys Power From Malaysia

Foreign Investors Acquire 8 Indonesian Steel Makers
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - Foreign investors have acquired stakes in eight local steel makers facing financial and marketing problem in the past two years. The eight companies have suffered a sharp fall in sales forcing them to operate far below their capacity as low as 50 per cent on weak demand mainly on the domestic market, reports said.
The condition was worse since the last quarter of 2008 when the global financial crisis began to bite, the Indonesia Iron and Steel Industry Association said.
Association chairman Hidayat Triseputro said the market slump has continued through the first quarter of this year. Based on data at the industry ministry, one of the country's largest steel maker PT Gunung Garuda and three subsidiaries, had been acquired by three investors from Singapore at a price of Rp1 trillion (US$90 million).
Metal Asia Group wholly acquired PT Gunung Gahapi Sakti at a price of Rp221.75 billion , Austin Investment Group took over full control of PT Gunung Gahapi Bahara at a price of Rp150 billion and Orientstar Pte Ltd now wholly owns PT Gunung Rajapaksi, which was sold at Rp341.03 billion.
Earlier Tenaris SA, one of the world's largest steel pipe makers, acquired 77.45 per cent of PT Seamless Pipe Indonesia Jaya from the Bakrie Group at a price of US$73.5 million.
----------------------------
The Jakarta Globe
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Indofarma, Kimia Farma Aim for No. 1 With Merger
Yessar Rosendar & Janeman Latul
In an ambitious plan to eventually become the country’s largest pharmaceutical company, two state-owned enterprises, PT Indofarma Tbk and PT Kimia Farma Tbk, are to merge in the first quarter of 2010, company officials said on Tuesday.
“We expect that the new company will take about 15 percent of the local market,” said Sjamsul Arifin, the president of Kimia Farma. The largest player in the fragmented sector is PT Kalbe Farma Tbk, with sales of Rp 7 trillion ($588 million) in 2007. Combined, the two companies’ 2007 sales would be Rp 3.63 trillion, just over half of Kalbe Farma’s. Iman Rachman, a director of Mandiri Securities, the appraiser for the process, said that it would take about six to nine months to finish the legal framework for the merger before it could go ahead.
-----------------------------
Indonesia's Bank Permata To Get $200 Mln Capital Injection
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's PT Bank Permata (JSX:BNLI) will get a capital injection of US$200 million from its shareholders PT Astra International (JSX:ASII) and Standard Chartered bank. The publicly listed lender will need fresh fund to strengthen its funding capacity, a bank sources told the newspaper Investor Daily. Astra and Stanchart are finalizing the plan for additional capital to be available before July this year, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Bank Permata corporate secretary Sandi T Mulyana said additional capital is needed anticipating worse impact of the global financial crisis.
Mulyana, who declined to confirm the capital injection report, said the bank is considering three options to strengthen its capital - issuing bonds, launching right issue and seeking banks loans. He denied suggestions that the bank needs capital injection to increase its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) saying the bank still has a safe CAR of 11 per cent well above the minimum limit of 8 per cent.
------------------------------
Sun Life Indonesia And CIMB To Establish Joint Venture
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - PT Sun Life FinancialIndonesia, the local unit of Canadian insurance giant Sun Life will spend US$22.5 million to acquire a 49 per cent stake in the local unit of Malaysian conglomerate CIMB Group to further tap into Indonesia's highly potential insurance business. Under an agreement, the two giants will then turn CIMB unit PT Commerce International into a new joint venture called CIMB Sun Life, the newspaper The Jakarta Post said. Sun Life Indonesia President Chris Lossin noted bancassurance penetration has gone from a very low figure six years ago to a very significant portion of the market today, saying it is expected to continue to grow.
Lossin said that over the period of five years, CIMB Sun Life would generate new premiums of around Rp1 trillion (US$84 million) and take about 5 per cent of the country's market share. He pointed out that the vast majority of the people in the
world's fourth most populous country, have not been covered with insurance.
--------------------------------
Indonesian Eximbank To Open Branch In Singapore
JAKARTA, March 16 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian export financing agency to be named Indonesian Eximbank, to start operation in June, will set up a branch in Singapore in 2010. Eximbank will be a conversion of state PT Bank Ekspor Indonesia (BEI) and it offer financing service that is not easily handled by commercial banks, BEI president Arifin Indra , who is also be the president of the new bank. Eximbank needs to have a branch in Singapore as the neighboring country is one of the financial centers in Asia, Arifin was quoted as saying by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia. He said many Indonesian exports and imports have been handled via Singapore, adding exporters and importers could open letter of credit (L/C) at the Singapore branch of Eximbank.
-------------------------------
Citi Financial Indonesia Eyes Larger Share In Small Biz Credit
Mkt
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - Citibank Indonesia will expand its Citi Financial networks planning to open four new branches in Solo, Yogyakarta, Lampung and Makassar. The target is to increase the bank's 13 per cent share in small business credit market, the bank Marketing Director Rico Usthavia Frans said. Frans said small business sector has become the main target of all banks at present under the threat of global financial crisis. He said the bank hopes to increase the share to 15 per cent as a result of the operation of the new units of Citi Financial, which now has 55 branches.
Citi Financial has posted an increase of more than 50 per cent in credits averaging more than Rp30 million (US$2520) each, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
--------------------------------
Indonesia's Astra Sedaya Sells Bonds Valued At $81.8 Mln
JAKARTA, March 16 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's PT Astra Sedaya Finance has sold bonds valued at Rp900 billion (US$81.8 million) larger than earlier estimate of Rp600 billion. The offer had been oversubscribed with demand 1.7 times larger,
Djoni Bunarto Tjondro, the president of the financing subsidiary of PT Astra International said. Astra Sedaya, which offers to finance the purchases of car produced by the Astra Group, will use the fund to strengthen its financing capacity , the newspaper Investor Daily said. The bond will be listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange on March 27, Djoni was quoted by the paper as saying. The company is set to spend up to Rp9 trillion on financing the purchase of cars estimated to reach 74,000 units this year.
--------------------------------
Indocement Repays Remaining Debt To Hc Finance Bv
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's second largest cement maker PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (JSX:INTP), said it has repaid its remaining debt of US$50 million to HC Finance BV.
"The company, therefore, needs fresh fund to refinance itself as it had used internal fund to repay the debt last week," corporate secretary Dani Handayani said. Preparations have been made to seek bank loans , Dani said giving no figure. Originally, Indocement had a debt of US$150 million to HC Finance BV, which is its majority 56.14 per cent shareholder, but US$100 million of the debt already repaid last year. Indocement is building a new cement factory in Cirebon, West Java, expected to be operational in the second half of this year. The new factory will increase its annual production capacity to 18.6 million tons from 17 million tons at present, the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia said.
---------------------------------
Indonesian Construction Co Wika To Build Asphalt Plant
JAKARTA, Mach 17 Asia Pulse - Indonesian construction company PT Wijaya Karya (Wika) (JSX:WIKA) said it plans to build an asphalt extraction plant with an investment of Rp300 billion (US$25.2 million) by the end of this year. Wika will team up with PT Sarana Karya , which hold an asphalt mining concession, to build the factory on the Buton island off Southeast Sulawesi, Wika secretary Imam Sudiyono said . Wika and Sarana Kaya have agreed to cooperate although no agreement has been signed, Imam said, adding Sarana Karya will provide its mining rights and Wika will handle the marketing of asphalt.
Meanwhile Wika Operation Director Budi Harto said the state company will establish a joint venture with Sarana Karya with a share split of 50 per cent each. Wika will provide a budget of Rp50 billion for the asphalt business this year, Imam was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily.
---------------------------------
Indonesian Govt Fails To Meet Target To Build Low Cost Apartments
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - The Indonesian government said it could not carry out its plan to build 60,000 units of low cost apartment houses in five years ending this year on financial problem.
"The government could build only around 30,000 units in 10 cities in the country , State Minister for Public Housing M Yusuf Asyari said. More than Rp6 trillion will be needed to build 60,000 units of apartment houses , but the government could provide only Rp3 trillion (US$252 million)," Yusuf was quoted as saying by the newspaper Investor Daily He said the private sector would not be interested in building low cost apartment houses as it will take at least 5 years to recover the capital . The low cost apartment houses are planned mainly for workers and students in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Makassar, Banjarmasin, Palembang, Medan and Batam.
----------------------------------
Indonesian Retail Co Matahari Overshoots Income Target
JAKARTA, March 16 Asia Pulse - Publicly traded Indonesian retail company PT Matahari Putra Prima (US$(JSX:MPPA) overshot its income target of Rp11.5 trillion (US$1 billion) to Rp12 trillion in 2008 or an increase of 22.45 per cent from Rp9.8 trillion in the previous year. Company president Benjamin Mailool said this year the company hopes to chalk up further increase of 15 per cent in income. The
company, which has shut down 33 supermarket outlets reducing the number to 27 units in four years , plans to open 10 new outlets of hypermarket this year.
Supermarkets are in a difficult situation as they are dwarfed at higher level by hypermarkets and could not compete in lower level facing mini markets which are closer in location to consumers, a company official said earlier. Mushrooming growth has been recorded in the number of mini markets mainly in residential complexes. Benjamin said the company has set aside Rp600 billion to open the 10 new hypermarket outlets. Currently Matahari has 160 retail outlets including 40 units of hypermarket , the newspaper Investor Daily said.
---------------------------------
Mercedes To Spend $18 Mln On Indonesian Assembling Facility
JAKARTA, March 16 Asia Pulse - PT Mercedes Benz Indonesia (MBI) said it will spend Rp200 billion (US$18 million) this year on its Indonesian assembling facility. The sole agent for Mercedes cars will repair its assembling facility for multipurpose vehicle (MPV) in Gunung Putri, Bogor, West Java, an official said. Head of the investment coordinating board (BKPM) Muhammad Lutfi said the German principal Daimler AG plans to make Indonesia production base for new models of luxury MPV products of Mercedes in this region. Daimler wants to win the luxury MPV market in Indonesia so far dominated by Toyota Alphard and Nissan Elgrande, Lutfi said.
---------------------------------
Riau Airlines To Buy Three Planes To Boost Its Services
PEKANBARU, March 16 Asia pulse - Riau Airlines (RAL), whose majority shares are owned by the regional government of Riau province, is planning to purchase three RJ 100 planes, Riau Governor HM Rusli Zainal said here on Saturday.
"RAL which is growing rapidly has to increase the number of planes. It therefore will add three more aircraft to increase its services to passengers," the governor said. He said that his side was still considering the sources of the fund that would be used to purchase the aircraft, whether it would be taken from the RAL internal funding sources, from banks or from the regional government. RAL now owns two RJ-100 planes. It serves the Pekanbaru-Jakarta route.
---------------------------------
Indonesian Plantation Co Lonsum Posts 64% Rise In Net Profit
JAKARTA, March 16 Asia Pulse - Publicly traded plantation company PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia (JSX:LSIP) posted a 64.4 per cent increase year-on-year in net profit to Rp927.55 billion (US$84 million) in 2008. Sales of the subsidiary of the food giant Indofood Sukses Makmur (JSX:INDF), attributed the increase in net profit to 31.3 per cent rise in sales to Rp3.85 trillion . Based on its financial reports for 2008 issued last weekend the oil palm plantation company recorded a 32.7 per cent increase in operating profit to Rp1.31 trillion , the newspaper Investor Daily said. . When many other companies suffered losses on foreign exchange , the company chalked up a foreign exchange gain of Rp29.96 billion in 2008, up from Rp17.39 billion in the previous year.
--------------------------------
Indonesia's CPO Exports Forecast To Rise 7% This Year
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's exports of crude palm oil (CPO) and derivatives are forecast to rise by up to 7 per cent to 15.5 million tons this year from 14.1 million tons last year. A chairman of the association of palm oil companies (Gapki) Susanto said demand for palm oil remains strong despite the global recession. Susanto said increases are still expected in demands from India, China and Europe, but demands from the United States are predicted to decline.
A number of factors including soybean production, the price of crude oil and industrial growth in destination countries will determine palm oil demand in the world market , he said. He said the world's production of soybean is on the decline
resulting in an increase in the price of that commodity. The price of CPO has been picking since early this year to reach US%550 per ton at present, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.
A decline has also been recorded in the production of CPO by Indonesia and Malaysia, which are the world's largest CPO producers.
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Minister Presents PNPM Assistance To Indonesia's S Kalimantan
BANJARMASIN, S Kalimantan, March 16 Asia pulse - The Coordinating Minister for the Indonesian People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie handed National Self-Reliant Community Empowerment Program (PNPM) assistance worth Rp166.535 billion (US$14 million) to South Kalimantan province here Friday. On the same occasion, Bakrie also inaugurated a number of infrastructure project in South Kalimantan.
The two acts were originally to be performed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono but the President had canceled his working visit to South Kalimantan after suffering a gastric disorder during his working visit in South Sulawesi on Thursday. The president had therefore assigned Bakrie to present the PNPM assistance to South Kalimantan and inaugurate the projects in the province on his behalf. President Yudhoyono for the first time announced the PNPM program at Vatulemo Square in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in April 2007. In South Kalimantan itself, the program was announced by the South Kalimantan governor on June 7, 2007. In 2007, South Kalimantan province received PNPM funds totaling Rp89.203 billion, In 2008, the province was allocated Rp228.368 billion in PNPM funds but in reality received only Rp221.087 billion. For 2009, South Kalimantan's PNPM allocation amounted to Rp166.535 billion for 151 sub districts in 13 districts
municipalities. South Kalimantan also received Rp427.253 billion in smallholder's business credits (KURs) for 28,711 recipients. The infrastructure projects inaugurated by Bakrie on Friday included a drinking water supply system and a low-cost high--rise housing complex.
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Pertamina Won't Lift LPG Price During Indonesian Election Period
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia pulse - State-owned oil company Pertamina has promised it will not raise the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) during the period of Indonesia's election this year. "We will maintain the current price of the 12 kg cylinder LPG until the end of the election stages," General Manager for Domestic Gas Affairs of Pertmaina Wahyudin Akbar said here on Tuesday. Pertamina also guaranteed that LPG stocks during the period of election stages will be enough. The government will organize a legislative election on April 9, 2009 and a presidential election on July 8, 2009. The newly elected president is expected to be installed in October 2009. "There is no need for the people to worry about LPG stocks in the market," Akbar said.
At present, Pertamina's LPG stocks reach 200,000 tons, which are enough to meet domestic need for 20 days with an estimated consumption rate of about 7,000 tons per day. The Pertamina policy to maintain the LPG price is in line with the government appeal that Pertamina should not raise 12 kg LPG price this year. Pertamina now sells the 12 kg cylinder LPG at Rp5,750 (US$0.48) per kg or Rp69,000 per cylinder. At the consumers' level the price is at a range of Rp75,000-Rp80,000 per cylinder, depending on their distribution distance.
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Indonesia may seek other LNG buyers if contracted cargoes dropped
Jakarta -- Indonesia may divert some contracted LNG cargoes to other buyers if it approves requests from term customers in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea to reduce their shipments in light of sagging demand, senior government officials said Monday. "Diverting the LNG cargoes is one of our options. We may seek LNG buyers currently [for] the idled LNG cargoes," the energy and mines minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said, adding that the government is still negotiating with the contracted buyers.
"We may seek LNG buyers to sell the idled LNG cargoes to, as the existing buyers have Downward Quantity Tolerance clauses in their term contracts, [allowing them] to request a reduction in term cargoes," the vice president of LNG for state-owned
Pertamina, Hari Karyulianto, said. Pertamina handles Indonesia's LNG exports for Asian buyers. About 12 cargoes are at issue in the current talks, Karyulianto said. Idled cargoes may also be used to meet domestic demand, officials with upstream regulator BPMigas have said.
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Senoro LNG Project To Start This Year In Sulawesi
JAKARTA, March 17 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's PT Donggi Senoro LNG (DSL) said it is set to start the process of constructing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Donggi Senoro in the regency of Banggai, Central Sulawesi towards the end of this month. DSL hopes to thrash out negotiation on the price of contract for the procurement , engineering and construction (EPC) with Japan Gas Corp. (JGC), an official of state oil and gas company PT Pertamina said. DSL hopes JGC will agree to start work to build the LNG plant with an annual capacity of 2 million tons on EPC price of less than US$1.8 billion, the unnamed official told the newspaper Investor Daily.
DSL is a joint venture company which is 51 per cent owned by Mitsubishi Corp., 29 per cent by Pertamina and 20 per cent by PT Medco LNG Indonesia. The LNG plant is expected to be operational in 2012 to start shipments to Japanese utilities Chubu and Kansai Electric each to have 1 million tons a year under a 15 year contract.
Meanwhile, the government said it will not allow DSL to start construction of the project before it approves its LNG price formula. In addition, Pertamina and Medco need to clarify dispute between DSL and PT LNG Energi Utama over rights to build the project, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.
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Damaged Grissik-Singapore Gas Pipeline To Be Fixed This Month
JAKARTA, March 16 Asia Pulse - PT Transportase Gas Indonesia (Transgasindo) said it is set to finish later this month replacing damaged part of its gas transmission pipeline transporting gas to Singapore from Jambi. Around 23 kilometers of the pipes have buckled in the Kuala Tungkal-Panaran section located around 110 kilometer from the Grissik gas field in Jambi causing trouble in gas shipment. The subsidiary of state gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) has to reduce gas shipment to 270 MMscfd from 465 MMscfd normally. The repair will cost around US$200 million being handled by Global Industry Asia Pacific, PGN President Hendi Prio Santoso said. Transgasindo is 60 per cent owned by PGN and 40 per cent by Transasia Pipeline Pvt Ltd, reports said. Transasia Pipeline is a consortium of Conoco Indonesia Holding Lts, Petronas International Corp Ltd, Talisman Transgasindo Ltd and SPC Indo Pipeline Co. Ltd.
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Platts Commodity News
March 16, 2009
Pertamina delays shutdown of Cilacap aromatics unit by a week
Singapore -- Indonesia's Pertamina has again delayed the turnaround at its aromatics unit at Cilacap refinery, from March 16 to March 24, a company source said Monday. The unit was originally scheduled to shut down for 12 days at the end of February for repairs to a leaking compressor caused by a fire at the facility on February 19. It was postponed to March 16 and now to March 24 due to difficulties in procuring spare parts for the compressor, the source said. Pertamina hopes to run the aromatics unit at full capacity until July, when it will be shut for 45 days for a catalyst change.
The Cilacap refinery is expected to concentrate on producing aromatics in April, after the company's Balongan refinery increases its operating rates at the end of March. The 125,000 b/d Balongan refinery was running at 50% as of Monday, after
problems at its single-buoy mooring facility, which started in mid-February affected crude supplies, the source said.
The Cilacap aromatics unit can produce 110,000 mt/year of benzene and 270,000 mt/year of paraxylene. Production is currently at full capacity. Most of Pertamina's annual benzene production has been allocated to three domestic term customers -- styrene monomer producer Styrindo Mono Indonesia, linear alkyl benzene producer Unggul Indah Cahaya and maleic anhydride manufacturer Justus Sakti Raya. Its paraxylene term customers include South Korea's SK Energy and Tychem.
Chua Sok Peng, sok_peng_c...@platts.com
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Platts Commodity News March 16, 2009
Indonesia's Chandra Asri to run cracker at 80% rate in April
Singapore -- Indonesian petrochemical producer Chandra Asri plans to run its sole naphtha-fed steam cracker at 75-80% of capacity in April, shortly after the cracker restarts from a scheduled turnaround Sunday or Monday, a source close to the company said Tuesday. The steam cracker, with an ethylene production capacity of
600,000 mt/year, was operating at 70% of capacity before the maintenance shutdown on February 1. The company a few weeks ago, bought 55,000 mt of light naphtha for delivery in April at a premium in the "low teens" to the Mean of Platts Japan naphtha assessment on a CFR Anyer basis. With this purchase, the company's requirements are fully covered for April. Chandra Asri will be taking delivery of some term cargoes in May and will only seek spot cargoes "if there are margins," the source said. If margins are squeezed, the company will lower its
steam cracker operations.
Wendy Cheong, wendy_che...@platts.com
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Pertamina Plans To Cut 2Q Gasoline Term Buys -Traders
SINGAPORE, March 16 (Dow Jones)--PT Pertamina plans to reduce term gasoline imports in the second quarter due to increasing domestic supply, but may have to pay higher prices as market conditions have improved since late last year, traders said Monday. Indonesia's state-owned energy firm, set to renew its contracts with term suppliers this week, may cut term 88-RON gasoline imports from 3.6 million firm barrels a month in the first quarter to about 3 million barrels, one trader said. The company had planned to keep gasoline output from its own refineries high in the second quarter, having solved earlier problems with its Balongan refinery and delayed planned maintenance at its Cilacap refinery, company officials had said
earlier.
In late 2008, Pertamina sealed deals for first-quarter supply with Petral, ChinaOil, Unipec, Petronas and Kipco at minus $1.20 a barrel to Singapore quotes for free-on-board Singapore cargoes and around flat for cost-and-freight Indonesia cargoes.But with gasoline consumption in China and the U.S. recovering in the past few months, Pertamina will likely pay higher prices for second-quarter gasoline supply, traders said. Petral, Pertamina's Singapore-based trading unit, which is financially independent from its parent, earlier concluded second-quarter gasoline purchase contracts at discounts of around $0.30 a barrel for free-on-board Singapore cargoes and premiums of up to $1 a barrel for cost-and-freight Indonesian cargoes, a second trader said.
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Indonesia's PLN Buys Power From Malaysia
SAJINGAN BESAR, W Kalimantan, March 16 Asia pulse - Indonesian state power company PT PLN planned to expand cooperation with Sarawak Energy Berhard (SEB) in West Kalimantan for interconnection and power purchase. President director of PT PLN Fahmi Mochtar said in Sajingan Besar, Sambas regency, on Sunday that on February 19, 2009, Heads of Agreement between PLN and SEb had been signed under a Sarawak-West Kalimantan interconnection network project.
SEB will supply electricity from the 275 kV system in Serawak to Bengkayang in West Kalimantan in the 2011 to 2012 period, Fahmi Mochtar said when inaugurating a power energy purchase from SEB by PT PLN in West Kalimantan for Sajingan in the Aruk border crossing check point. He said in the initial stage PLN in West Kalimantan will buy 200 kVA of electricity from SEB to serve 380 households in Sajingan Besar subdistrict. PLN will also buy 400 kVA of electricity from SEB for the population in Badau, Badau subdistrict, Kapuas Hulu, on the border region projected to be realized in March 2009.
Fahmi Mochtar said the power purchase from Malaysia in Sajingan Besar was a first in Indonesia, but this type of transaction is often carried out between countries in Southeast Asia such as between Thailand and Laos. PLN also wanted to build an interconnection network in the Asian countries. Three of the 14 interconnection projects concern Indonesia, Mochtar said. They are the Batam - Singapore, Sumatera - Malaysia Peninsula, and West Kalimantan-Sarawak interconnection.
Under the Asean economic cooperation scheme, all the interconnection projects are scheduled for completion in 2015. General Manajer of PLN for West Kalimantan Denny Pranoto said the power purchase from SEB will be increased. For Sajingan Besar it will be increased to 1,000 kVA with the network reaching Galing subdistrict 34 kilometers from Aruk, Denny Pranoto said. Pranoto added that the government had prepared the funding for boosting the capacity from the 2009 State Budget. Four villages will be covered by the power line from Aruk to Galing. "Actually
Galing already received power from PLN in Sambas," Pranoto said. He cited that 500 kVA to 1,000 kVA of electricity will also be supplied to Entikong subdistrict bordering with Tebedu, Sarawak, under a deal and memorandum of understanding (MoU). "Implementation will be in stages according to the capacity of the network," Pranoto said.
Chairman of SEB Datok Abdul Hamid Sepawi meanwhile said the trans-border electricity supply was a great achievement under the PLN-SEB cooperation. Sepawi added that some time in the future there is a possibility that West Kalimantan will supply power to Sarawak. "We know that many parts of Kalimantan are abundant with coal, potential for hydropower plants, or other types of energy to produce electricity," Sepawi said.
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