Listed palm oil consumer product producer PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology Tbk (”SMART”) has posted an operational profit of Rp 547 billion for the first quarter of 20121 or a whooping 351 percent increase over the same period last year while its EBITDA for the same quarter rose by 116 percent to reach Rp 1.08 trillion.
“We are happy to see the achievements of SMART in the first quarter of 2021, amid the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. SMART will continue to strengthen its competitive advantages through the latest innovations and sustainable practices,” Vice President and concurrently Corporate Secretary Jimmy Pramono said in a press release issued following the company’s General Meeting of Shareholders on Tuesday (15/6.)
The company also recorded net sales of Rp 11.1 trillion for the first three months of 2021, or 15 percent up from the previous quarter while the production from its palm oil plantations went up by 12 percent in the same period. The increase in net sales was attributed to an increase in the average sale prices in the first quarter while rising palm oil plantations was supported by favorable weather conditions.
The company’s planted area as of March 31, 2021, was at 137,600 hectares composed of company core plantations at 106,300 hectares and 31,300 hectares for plasma schemes. Ninety-five percent of the planted area is already productive and the company harvested 670,000 tons of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFBs) in the first quarter of this year. These were processed at 16 mills into 150,200 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) and 40,000 tons of Palm Kernel (PK.) The extraction rate was at 21.2 percent for palm oil and 5.6 percent for palm kernel.
The global vegetable oil supply is currently very limited, especially because of the dry weather conditions in South America and other parts of the world. We predict that this tight supply will continue throughout this year, With the rolling COVID-19 vaccination programs across the globe, we are optimistic that demand for vegetable oils would remain strong, both from the food or energy sectors. However, we remain alert and would continuously monitor the development of the C OVID-19 pandemic, especially in the main consumer countries,” Pramono said.
The General Meeting of Shareholders also approved the distribution of final dividends at Rp 160 per share, totaling almost Rp 460 billion or around 30 percent of the company’s net profits in 2020