18/08/2012 (Jakarta Post) - State-owned PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) disbursed Rp 4.99 trillion (US$525.37 million) in corporate loans to palm oil companies in the first half of the year, almost double the same figure last year.

“The number is still very small compared to other corporate loans disbursed by the bank. However, BRI believes the palm oil sector is very promising and that’s the reason it increased the loans,” BRI corporate secretary Muhamad Ali said.

Indonesia’s status as the world’s biggest palm oil producer also played a part in the loan surge, he added.

About 40 palm oil companies, mostly in the Sumatra and Kalimantan provinces, have received corporate loans from the second-biggest lender in Indonesia, with interest rates ranging between 7 and 9 percent.

However, he said, the publicly listed bank did not set a specific target in terms of the number of palm oil companies it planned to work with for the remainder of the year.

Between January and June 2012, corporate lending, which accounts for 24 percent of BRI’s loan portfolio, grew 38.8 percent to Rp 73.46 trillion from the same period last year.

The increase was aimed at state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and at sectors that would benefit small businesses and communities, including the palm oil sector, the bank said in a statement.

Loans to SOEs dominated corporate lending with Rp 45.41 trillion during the first six months of 2012.

Besides the palm oil companies, which operate nucleus plantations, the bank also works with plasma oil palm farmers and plantation suppliers in Sumatra and Kalimantan to boost its lending in micro, small and medium enterprise (SME) segments, according to Muhamad.

BRI’s loans in micro and SME segments reached Rp 171.6 trillion, more than half the bank’s loan portfolio, in the first half of this year, up 1.4 percent from 2011.

In this year’s first half, the bank’s total loans rose 14.7 percent to Rp 304.78 trillion from Rp 265.81 trillion in the same period last year.

BRI expected its loan portfolio to grow to Rp 340.3 trillion in 2012, a 20 percent climb from Rp 283.58 trillion last year, said Muhamad.

Meanwhile, PT Eterindo Wahanatama, through its subsidiary PT Maiska Bhumi Semesta, secured Rp 336 billion in investment loans from BRI for a nucleus palm oil plantation cultivation in West Kalimantan, the company announced on Thursday.

It was the second loan that Eterindo, a biodiesel producer, had received from BRI in a month.

The firm, through its other subsidiary PT Malindo Persada Khatulistiwa, also secured Rp 348.8 billion from the bank for the same purpose in July.

Both Maiska and Malindo run 24,000 hectares of palm oil plantations in Landak regency, West Kalimantan. By the end of 2012, the companies expect to have 7,000 hectares of total planted areas.

“In the near future, Eterindo will receive other loans from BRI to cultivate plasma plantations and to build palm oil processing factories,” Eterindo said in a statement.

The plantations and factories are part of Eterindo’s efforts to double biodiesel production capacity. It has targeted to produce 140,000 metric tons of biodiesel by the end of 2012, up 50 percent from 2011.

Eterindo’s net profits jumped 52.9 percent to Rp 11.57 billion in the first quarter of this year from the same period a year before. (tas)