JAKARTA – Palm oil Producer PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya Tbk. (ANJ) is aiming at a 6.1 percent rise in its production of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) to 774,567 tons this year while its output of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is targeted to rise by 4.3 percent to 219,284 tons.
ANJ Finance Director Lucas Kurniawan, said that FFB and CPO production is seen as rising because in 2017 the production of plantations in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, had not yet peaked as it is still young. This year will also see an expansion of land that can be harvested, so that production will also raise.
“In 2017, the North Sumatra 1 is still in recovery period after the long draught in 2016 and begun to recover again in the third quarter of 2017 with the support of improving climate,” Kurniawan said in a press release received by The Palm Scribe.
Kurniawan explained that the sale target for CPO for 2018 will be in line with the CPO production target which is expected to go up by 4 percent compared to last year.
“ANJ always follow the development of prices and government policies and various issues that influence CPO prices, from third party analysis and from the association (GAPKI), we remain optimistic that the price of CPO will continue to have a positive trend in the long term,” Kurniawan said.
To reach those targets, Kurniawan said ANJ will focus on developing its palm oil plantation in West Papua and complete the construction of its palm oil mill there. The company will also continue its crop rejuvenation program in Belitung and Binanga, covering some 1,500 hectares. At the same time, ANJ is trying to improve the performance of its plantation and mill management so that harvest and oil extraction can proceed in an optimal way.
Even though ANJ still relies on palm oil as its main source of revenue, in 2018, ANJ is also continuing is non-palm oil line, such as the completion of the construction of facility for frozen edamame in the third quarter of 2018 and gradually improve the production and quality of its sago flour from its sago processing plant in West Papua.
“We are also focused on obtaining a food security certificate, so that we can start export frozen edamame in 2019,” Kurniawan said.
The construction of the edamame factory, according to him, was proceeding as scheduled. All construction work for the plant that will process frozen edamame is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2018. “The cooperation between ANJ-Asia Foods in the sales of edamame will only begin to make contribution in 2019, when we start exports of frozen edamame,” Kurniawan said.
In the sago sector, he explained that efforts are continuously being made to raise the production target. “We are still conducting test trial with harvesting and production equipment that are suitable for natural sago plants in West Papua. This trial test, we hope, will be able to arrive at a conclusion on the third quarter of 2018,” Kurniawan said.
He said that the company will spend some Rp 1.2 trillion this year, including for the construction of the mill in West Papua (Rp189 billion), the construction of infrastructure in West Papua, the planting of palm oil seedlings in Papua, replanting in Belitung and the construction of the frozen line unit for edamame exports at Rp 86 billion.