19/12/05 BENGKULU,  (Asia Pulse) - Private plantation companies cultivating oil palm in Bengkulu have been asked to build processing factories to produce palm oil end products.

Vice Chairman of House Commission VI Agus Hermanto said Sunday that Bengkulu produces an abundance of crude palm oil (CPO), but plantation companies in the province are facing marketing difficulties.

The construction of factories to process CPO into palm oil end products is imperative, said Hermanto.

He asked the provincial administration to seek ways of helping plantation companies, for instance, by appealing to developed companies to assist other companies that can not afford to build processing factories.

Hermanto expressed his appreciation of Bio Nusantara's initiative to build its own CPO processing factor.(ANTARA)