JAKARTA – Amidst the pandemic of Covid-19, PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk recorded a positive financial performance in the first semester of 2020. The revenue of the Company increased by 6.5% from Rp 8.5 trillion in the first semester of 2019 to Rp 9.1 trillion. Revenue growth had been supported by the increase of CPO…
PALM oil is widely used in food products due to its superior health benefits and versatility — from cooking oil to margarine, bakery fats, chocolates, confectioneries, ice cream, dairy substitutes and food supplements. To ensure a healthy lifestyle, one must adopt a balanced diet to keep our body active and healthy. Fat intakes at the…
Indonesia, the biggest palm oil producer in the world, saw production and exports of the commodity contract in the first half of the year due to economic impacts of the pandemic as well as rolling impacts of drought and a price crash in previous years, the industry association has stated. The Indonesian Oil Palm Association…
Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia should boost the trade of its value-added products rather than depend solely on the trading of raw materials, Dzulfian Syafrian, researcher at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), stated. “One way for this is by encouraging cooperation with other countries to attract investors in this value chain,” Syafrian…
The government has rekindled plans to escalate Indonesia’s biodiesel program after a five-month hiatus caused by weak palm oil prices and the unfolding global health crisis. Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto recently ordered state-owned fuel giant Pertamina to revive the program a few days after the company produced an experimental batch of new biodiesel and…
Indonesia had its second request for a panel to examine certain measures adopted by the EU affecting palm oil biofuels accepted. Indonesia’s first request was blocked at a dispute settlement meeting on 29 June. Indonesia said the measures in question not only unfairly discriminated against palm oil, but were inconsistent with provisions in the World…
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 — The Secretariat of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) is asking American food company Kraft Heinz Company to withdraw its misguided negative campaign on palm oil and “palm oil-free” claims and discriminatory messages on the company’s products. It said the company, a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable…
JAKARTA, July 23 (Reuters) – Indonesian state oil company PT Pertamina is set to test the production of jet fuel made up of 3% palm oil by the end of the year, Chief Executive Nicke Widyawati said on Thursday. The comments come a week after the company announced its first batch of biodiesel using feedstock…
Jakarta – Anticipatory steps are needed in preventing forest and land fires. To improve the effeciency on monitoring the situation in the surrounding plantation, Astra Agro utilized unmaned aerial vehicle (UAV) in facing the threat of the peak of the dry season this year. UAVs or drones (drones) equipped with these cameras will be flown…
Indonesia hopes to conclude negotiations for a trade agreement with the European Union next year to bolster the country’s economic recovery after the pandemic, but policies on palm oil remain a major sticking point. The Indonesia-EU Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IEU-CEPA), Indonesia’s largest bilateral trade negotiation to date, was expected to boost trade, investment and…
Born in the Netherlands and brought up in Germany, it wasn’t until I was 21 that I met my first coconut. It was on a beach in Thailand where I ended up during a one-year sojourn away from home, trying to grow up. With nothing better to do, I picked up a husky fruit lying…
A new report has found that more than half the Used Cooking Oil (UCO) used in Europe for biodiesel in 2019 was imported (1.5 million tonnes out of 2.8 million tonnes). The biggest share comes from China (34%) and about 20% comes from Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s biggest producers of palm oil. According to the…
(Bloomberg) — Palm oil is heading for a recovery in the second half on improving global demand and dwindling output, months after the coronavirus shattered the tropical oil’s stunning bull run. Demand for the world’s most-consumed cooking oil, used in everything from chocolate to ice-cream, lipstick and shampoo, is poised to recover as lockdowns across…
Jakarta – The government has called on the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP-KS) to meet the target of small-scale palm oil plantation rejuvenation set to cover 500 thousand hectares of area in 2020-2022. “The government has targeted to rejuvenate 500 thousand hectares of small-scale palm oil plantation in 2020 to 2022. I want…
KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): Indonesia is seeing greater exports of palm oil-derived oleochemical products such as soap glycerine noodles as a result of Covid-19, and expects the B30 biodiesel mandate to help sustain the industry. Edy Sutopo, the director for forest and agriculture in Indonesia’s Industry Ministry, said exports of basic hygiene product components such…
The world’s biggest palm oil producer, Indonesia, has asked the dispute settlement body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to establish a panel to examine the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), which it claims discriminates against biofuels produced from palm oil. EU member states must transpose the RED II into national law by 30…
Jakarta – Indonesian palm oil company, PT Astra Agro Lestari, has recorded positive operational and financial performance amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has posed economic challenges worldwide. In a statement received in Jakarta on Friday, the company informed that operations at its palm oil plantations and mills are running normally, with the application of…
Publicly listed palm oil company PT Astra Agro Lestari announced Wednesday that it would spend 45 percent of last year’s profit, around Rp 94.95 billion (US$6.76 million) in dividends, rewarding its shareholders despite declining productivity. The company, which is a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate PT Astra International, will pay a lower dividend per share of…
JAKARTA – In 2020 the world economy faces quite severe challenges, especially related to the covid-19 pandemic. The price of crude palm oil (CPO) fell as a result of the significant weakening of crude oil prices. Nevertheless, PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk (Astra Agro) recorded positive operational and financial performances. Operations of oil palm plantations…
Hong Wai Onn explains how enzyme technology could make the industry greener and more efficient GIVEN the extensive list of challenges currently facing the world, some of which are food supply, energy, and the environment, there is a limited number of engineers readily available to address these challenges. So where could chemical engineering talent best…
