JAKARTA, Aug 30 Asia Pulse - The country's production of crude palm oil(CPO) almost doubled from 5.6 million tons in 1998 to 10.6 million tons in2003, Agriculture Minister Bungarana Saragih said.

Oil palm plantations expanded from 2.7 million hectares to 4.8 millionhectares in the same period, Saragih said.The expansion was recorded without support in cheap credits and statebudget such as provided by the government in the 1969-1997 period, hesaid.

In 2004, the country's CPO production is estimated to reach 11.5 milliontons, up to 12 million tons in 2005 exceeding Malaysia's production of 11million tons at present.

The country earned US$2,454 million in exports of palm oil in 2003.