20/05/2011 (Reuters) - Astra Agro Lestari , Indonesia's largest listed plantation firm, expect its crude palm oil (CPO) production to grow more than 10 percent this year, due to maturing plantations, the company said on Thursday.

Last year, Astra Agro Lestari produced 1,113,277 tonnes of CPO, up from 1,082,953 tonnes in 2009, spokesman Tofan Mahdi told Reuters.

"With the increase of CPO production of 27 percent in the first four months, we hope output will continue to go up in the coming months," Mahdi said. "So, we are optimistic our CPO production in 2011 will grow more than 10 percent."

The firm has said earlier this year, that it produced 275,100 tonnes of CPO in the first quarter, up 25.7 percent from the same period last year. [ID:nL3E7G40BW]

More oil palm plantations owned by Astra Agro will be maturing this year, Mahdi said, pushing up production and helping to offset the negative impact of climate change.

Astra Agro, controlled by the country's biggest listed firm Astra International , produced 377,239 tonnes of CPO from January until end-April this year compared to 295,932 tonnes from the same period last year, he added.

Earlier this year, the firm said it planned to build four new factories this year, including two CPO refineries with production capacity of 45 tonnes per hour in South Kalimantan, and one 30 tonnes per hour facility in East Kalimantan.

Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, expects palm oil output to slip nearly 4 percent this year to 21 million tonnes because of heavy rains, the chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Commission (IPOC) had told Reuters.