10.11.2020 (www.businesstimes.com.sg) - BUMITAMA Agri Ltd has announced higher revenue and net profit for the first nine months of its 2020 fiscal year from a year ago, on higher prices of palm oil.

In a business update on Tuesday, the Indonesian palm oil producer said net profit attributable to owners of the company rose 48.8 per cent to 632.14 billion rupiah (S$59.6 million) for the nine-month period ended Sept 30, from 424.86 billion rupiah for the same period in 2019.

Revenue rose 12.6 per cent to 6.08 trillion rupiah for the first nine months, from 5.40 trillion rupiah in the year-ago period.

Bumitama said the group's financial performance for the first nine months of 2020 strengthened due to increased palm oil prices compared to the previous corresponding period.

Sales revenue in both crude palm oil and palm kernel had increased during the year, despite lower sales volume. Revenue for its crude palm oil business grew 13.3 per cent to 5.48 trillion rupiah, even as sales volume fell 9.8 per cent year on year to 670,000 metric tonnes.