24/09/2012 (Jakarta Globe) - Bengkulu has offered Chinese investors an opportunity in the downstream palm oil sector to process locally produced crude palm oil into finished products.

HM Nashsya, a senior staffer of the Bengkulu provincial administration, said Chinese investors were also offered other natural resource-based projects at the recent China-Asean Expo 2012 held in Nanning, China.

Nashsya said Bengkulu produces around 2.5 million tons of CPO annually that could guarantee feedstock for a factory producing cooking oil, soap and cosmetic basic material.

Right now, Bengkluku has to sell its CPO production to neighboring provinces, including South Sumatra and Lampung.

If Bengkulu develops a factory, the local palm oil farmers could save much in the transport costs associated with selling their CPO outside the region, Nashsya said.

He also said that difficulty in marketing impacts the price of CPO in Bengkulu, adding that a factory would create new jobs.

Nashsya said at the Nanning international exhibition, Bengkulu displayed its tourist attractions, including founding president Sukarno’s house when he was exiled to that province and the British Marlborough Fortress.

Head of the regional energy and mineral resource office Karyamin said Bengkulu also displayed its mineral products — high quality coal, iron sand and gold ore.

Karyamin said Bengkulu has a total reserve of around 100 million tons of 5,000-7,000 calorie coal that is largely untapped.