27/07/2009 (Xinhua) - Indonesia, the world largest palm oil producer, would increase its palm oil plantation by 400,000 hectares this year, Antara news agency reported here Friday.

The expansion, twice as large as earlier projected by the Association of Palm Oil Companies (Gapki), will be made in Sumatra and Sulawesi, Plantation Director General Achmad Mangga Barani was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

He said that investment needed for the expansion is around 30 million rupiah (some 3,000 US dollars) per hectare.

Barani said among large companies planning expansion this year are the Sinar Mas Group, Wilmar Group, and PT Bakrie Sumatera Plantations, and state companies PT Perkebunan Nusantara III and IV.