RI`s 2008 export growth exceeds target
(02/03/09)

Jakarta  (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s non-oil/gas exports in 2008 grew 17.16 percent to US$107.8 billion from a year earlier, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said.
The 2008 export growth exceeded the government-set target of 14.5 percent, BPS Deputy Chief Ali Rosidi said here on Monday.
Vegetable and animal oils, nearly 80 percent of which came from crude palm oil (CPO) topped the list of the country`s non-oil/gas exports last year, contributing 14.46 percent of the total non-oil/gas exports, he said.
He said vegetable and animal oil exports rose to US$15.53 billion in 2008 from US$10.23 billion the year before.
Mineral fuel came in second with a value of US10.67 billion, accounting for 9.89 percent of the total non-oil/gas exports. In 2007, mineral fuel exports stood at US$7.12 billion.
Machinery and electrical appliances contributed 7.51 percent of the total non-oil/gas exports with US$8.09 billion compared to US$7.52 billion the previous year, he said.
Rubber and rubber-based product exports made up 7.04 percent of the total non-oil/gas exports, increasing to US$7.59 billion in 2008 from US$6.25 billion a year earlier, he said.

Mechanic appliances contributed 4.84 percent of the total non-oil/gas exports with a value of US$4.68 billion in 2008 from US$5.21 billion in 2007, he said.

Compared to November 2008, the export of the five different commodities in December 2008 declined in the range of US$14 million to US300 million, he said.

South Korea buys Indonesian aircraft for coastguard
(02/31/08)

Seoul (ANTARA News) - South Korea has signed a 90-million-dollar deal with Indonesia to buy four transport planes for the coastguard, officials said Tuesday.

Under the deal signed on Monday, Indonesia will deliver four CN235-110 aircraft by 2011, the Defense Acquisition Programme Administration said.

"They will be used for various missions," a spokesman told AFP, adding the plane, which is equipped with an advanced radar system, is already used by South Korea's air force.

Yonhap news agency said the coastguard would use the Indonesian aircraft to patrol waters around a group of Seoul-controlled islands midway between South Korea and Japan.

Called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, the tiny islands have for decades been a flashpoint in relations, with both sides claiming sovereignty.

Japan claimed them in 1905 after winning a war with Russia. It went on to annex the entire Korean peninsula from 1910 until its World War II defeat in 1945.

Seoul has taken measures to cement its claims to the islands, including staging a military exercise nearby. A small South Korean police contingent is stationed on them.  (*)
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Semen Gresik to increase cement exports in 2009
(01/02/09)

Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - State-owned cement maker PT Semen Gresik is planning to increase its export volume despite the economic crisis in 2009, the company`s president director, Dwi Soetjipto, said.

He said the company`s export volume in 2007 stood at 500,000 tons but hoped the volume would increase to one million tons in 2009.

"This year the export volume is predicted to account for only five percent of overall sales while demand abroad is actually higher," he said.

Seotjipto said Semen Gresik was not able to meet demand for cement overseas because domestic demand was also high.

Though domestic demand at home is expected to drop this year, Semen Gresik Group would maintain its production growth target at about six percent of its 2008 production at 18.2 million tons.

The 2008 production at 18.2 million tons is 8.6 percent higher than that in 2007.

He said that the company`s cement sales in the January - November 2008 period was recorded at 16.186 million tons, or an increase of 4.4 percent compared with that in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Currently, the real production capacity of Semen Gresik is 18 million tons annually. It controls 44 percent of the cement market shares in the country.

"We will continue our expansion plan to increase the company`s current production capacity, Dwi Soetjipto said.

The projects which will be carried out included the construction of a new factory in Pati, Central Java, and in South Sulawesi (Semen Tonasa) with a respective capacity of 2.5 million tons per annum.

He said Semen Gresik will also construct two power generating plants with a respective capacity of 35 megawatts.

The projects, which need an investment of about US$1.3 billion are scheduled for completion in 2011 for the factories in South Sulawesi and in 2012 for the one in Pati.

"If the new factories and other facilities have been completed, Semen Gresik`s production capacity is estimated to reach 23.4 million tons in 2014. We predict that cement demand at home will increase in a few years to come," he said. (*)

Indonesia`s measures to fight global slowdown
(01/06/09)

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Reuters) - Indonesia has announced a $6.5 billion fiscal stimulus package in its latest measure to support Southeast Asia's biggest economy amid a sharp global downturn.

Below is a summary of steps taken by the government to counter the economic slowdown.

*    FISCAL STIMULUS
The finance ministry on Jan. 5 announced plans to spend more than 72 trillion rupiah ($6.55 billion) on infrastructure and other projects to lift growth and create jobs, and said 51.3 trillion rupiah of unspent funds carried over from the 2008 budget may also be used for further stimulus measures.
             
*    REGIONAL GOVT SPENDING
Provincial governments will receive an additional 30 trillion rupiah to spend on infrastructure.

*    FUEL PRICE CUTS
The government cut fuel prices twice in December after a steep drop in global oil prices, reducing the price of subsidised gasoline by a total of 17 percent and diesel by 13 percent.
           
By cutting energy costs, which feeds into lower inflation, it hopes to see an increase in domestic spending.
      
*    INTEREST RATE CUT
Bank Indonesia (BI) cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 9.25 percent on Dec. 4, and is expected to cut further this week (Jan. 7) in a bid to spur growth.
      
*    CURRENCY RESTRICTIONS
To halt a plunge in the rupiah currency and cut down speculative trading, BI imposed restrictions on currency transactions.
           
With effect from Nov. 13, foreign currency purchases equivalent to $100,000 or more, per month, must be supported by actual underlying transactions.

           
State-owned enterprises were urged to repatriate dollars and keep them with onshore banks.
             
*    RUPIAH AVAILABILITY
The central bank on Oct. 14 introduced measures to increase the availability of dollars for banks and companies.
           
It lowered the minimum reserve requirement for foreign exchange deposits by commercial banks at BI to 1 percent, from 3 percent, and scrapped limits on the daily balance of short-term foreign borrowings.
      
*    BANK SAFETY NET
The government lifted the maximum bank deposit guarantee to 2 billion rupiah, from 100 million rupiah previously, on Oct. 13 to bolster confidence in the domestic banking system and prevent a run on deposits.
      
*    STOCK MARKET MEASURES
Indonesia Stock Exchange halted trading on Oct. 8 after trading for part of the day, and reopened on Oct. 12, in a bid to halt a slump in stock prices. It also set 10 percent limits on daily share price movements, later increasing the upside limit to 20 percent.
           
The authorities eased accounting rules regarding mark-to-market measures and made it easier for companies to do share buybacks. (*)

Indonesia projected enjoy 3.8-mln-ton rice surplus
(01/10/08)

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia is projected to enjoy a rice production surplus of 3.8 million tons in 2009 or 5.37 percent more than last year, a senior agriculture ministry official said.

The country was this year expected to produce a total of 63.52 million tons of dried unhulled paddy, the equivalent of 35.9 million tons of rice, Sutarto Alimoeso, the ministry`s director general of food crops, said here on Friday.

"With domestic rice demand this year to stand at 32.1 million tons, the expected production figure means there will be a surplus of 3.8 million tons," he said.

Meanwhile, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) the country`s dried unhulled paddy production in 2008 was around 60.26 million tons.

The government has expressed optimism that this year`s rice production target will be achieved thanks to favorable climate conditions and a 0.3-percent expansion in the overall rice farming area.

Agriculture ministry data showed that during the last rice farmers` planting season (October-December 2008), paddy was planted on a total area of 4.64 million hectares compared to 4.62 million hectares in the planting season nn 2007 and 3.39 million hectares in 2006. (*)

Indonesian first rice export goes to Japan next month
(01/01/09)

By Eliswan Azly

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - After recording a rice overproduction of 2.7 million tons in 2008, Indonesia decided to export its super quality rice to some countries.

It is for this purpose that the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) has been assigned by the government to handle this with Japan as the first country of destination as the country is known to have a high consumption of super quality rice.

Bulog Director Mustafa Abubakar on Thursday said Japanese importers had conducted a feasibility study of Indonesia`s capability in meeting its regular orders for the super quality rice requested by Japanese consumers.

"In order to meet that country`s demand, the rice exports will be conducted in February and March this year," he said.

According to him, the rice to be exported to Japan will be of the best quality containing broken rice of only 5 to 10 percent,like Pandan wangi, Cianjur, Padi Mulia, Aromatic rice and others.

As to the volume of the rice exports to Japan, he further said that they reached 10,000 to 20,000 tons a month or 120,000 to 140,000 tons a year, so that the exports will never disrupt Indonesia`s capability to meet domestic demand for the staple in relation to national production currently reaching 35 million tons a year.

The price of rice of super quality in Japan may range from USD 1 to USD 2 per kg, so that the consumers are an exclusive layer of the society.

"On Wednesday (Jan 7), we signed an agreement with two importers and a local company in East Java to arrange the issuance of a permit from the Trade Ministry for the rice exports," he said.

In addition to Japan, accordinig to Mustafa, some other ASEAN countries had also requested for the Indonesian rice, but of medium quality in 2009. "They are the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste, and Brunei Darussalam, but we are still waiting for adequate rice supply to meet local consumption which can be calculated from June to September 2009."
"The four countries have tendered their formal and informal orders through their respective consuls in Jakarta for the import of the Indonesian," he said, adding Indonesia planned to export one to 1.5 million tons of rice of medium quality.

However, Mustafa admitted that he was not in a position to decide on the rice export plan. He could only make a proposal, because the relevant authorities have left the matter to the Trade Ministry on the condition that Indonesia reached a rice overproduction of three million tons.

According to him, if the production of unhusked rice in 2009 reaches the projected 63.5 million tons, it is predicted that there will be a big overproduction, paving the way for rice exports to the Philippines, Malaysia, Timor Leste and Brunei Darussalam.

In the meantime, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) last year projected Indonesia`s dry unhusked rice production at 59.88 million tons, up by 2.72 million tons due to an expansion of the land of the harvest by 237,610 hectares and an increase in productivity of the roce fields by 130 kg/hectare.

In 2007, Indonesia`s dry unhusked rice output rose by 4.98 percent or 2.70 million tons from 2006, enabling the country to enjoy a surplus of 1.5 million tons, while the country could only enjoy a surplus of about 50,000 tons. But in 2009 the surplus is expected to reach over three million tons.

Earlier, Director General of Food Crops Sutarto Alimoeso expressed optimism over Indonesia`s ability to record a surplus of over 2.7 million tons in 2009 following a BPS prediction of an increase in the country`s rice output in 2009.

Sutarto said he would ask the National Land Agency (BPN) to allow the rice growers to use idle land. "We have millions of hectares of idle land. However, our farmers cannot make use of them," he said.(*)

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