19/04/2012 (Jakarta Post) - Indonesia’s largest listed palm oil producer PT Astra Agro Lestari (AALI), a member of the Astra Group conglomerate, suffered a decline in revenues in the first three months of this year compared with a year earlier on lower selling prices.

Astra Agro’s revenue dropped 6.5 percent to Rp 2.58 trillion (US$281.22 million) throughout the first quarter as selling prices for the company’s core product, crude palm oil (CPO), fell 6.9 percent, president director Widya Wiryawan said on Tuesday.

“The sales price decreased from Rp 8,278 per kilogram in 2011 to Rp 7,706 per kilogram in 2012,” Widya said. Palm oil prices in Indonesia and Malaysia, both the world’s top producers, declined in recent weeks on concerns that a slowing global economy will pare demand.

Astra Agro’s CPO sales, however, grew by 5.2 percent in the January-March period compared with the same period a year earlier at a total of 289,390 tons.

Widya declined to disclose Astra Agro’s sales target for this year but said that given the first quarter performance, the target was achievable.

CPO dominated the company’s sales, accounting for 89.3 percent of revenues or Rp 2.3 trillion, while the remaining 10.7 percent of Astra Agro’s business (Rp 280 billion) was generated from kernel and its derivatives.

Sumatra was the largest contributor for Astra Agro, accounting for 44.8 percent of the company’s overall output, with CPO production at 129,780 tons in the first three months of the year.

Kalimantan ranked second with a 35.8 percent contribution, equivalent to 103,740 tons, with Sulawesi covering the remaining 19.4 percent, or 56,140 tons.

“We are expanding our business this year by operating four new CPO refineries in Kalimantan and Sulawesi,” Widya said. The new refineries will add 180 tons CPO per hour in capacity from Astra Agro’s current overall capacity of 1,050 tons per hour.

Astra Agro also saw higher production of fresh fruit bunches (TBS) at 1.1 million tons in the first quarter of this year, up 7.8 percent from a year ago.

Shares in Astra Agro, valued at more than Rp 36 trillion, traded at Rp 23,200 apiece on Tuesday’s close, up 0.65 percent from a day earlier.

The shares have risen 6.9 percent so far this year, trailing the broader benchmark Jakarta Composite Index’s (JCI) 8.8 percent gain.

The company booked a 21.8 percent increase in revenues last year to Rp 10.77 trillion as sales and selling prices were on the rise. (nfo)