Palm oil

Existing mature plantations
The Group has a majority interest in 9,400 hectares of oil-palm plantations in Sumatra. These consist of some 6,900 hectares on three estates which are in close proximity, Pangkatan, Bilah and Sennah Estates, in the Labuhan Batu district of North Sumatra. A 40-tonne-per-hour crude palm-oil processing mill was commissioned in 2005 on Pangkatan Estate to process the fruit from these three estates. Simpang Kiri Estate (2,500 hectares) is located in the south-east corner of the province of Aceh. The Group also has a substantial interest in two other projects in Sumatra - PT Agro Muko (37%) and PT Kerasaan Indonesia (38%). The former is a 23,000-hectare project in the province of Bengkulu with 18,000 hectares of oil palm, two palm-oil mills, 1,600 hectares of rubber and a crumb-rubber factory. The latter owns a 2,300-hectare oil-palm estate, Kerasaan, in North Sumatra.

East Kalimantan
In 2006 agreements were signed with two Indonesian partners, both members of the same Indonesian family, Messrs. Halim Jawan and Sudihugeng Hardjojo. Mr Jawan is a 7.5% shareholder in PT Prima Mitrajaya Mandiri; Mr Sudihugeng is a 7.5% shareholder in PT Tegu Jayaprima Abadi. Together, the two companies are developing 13,500 hectares of land near Samarinda in East Kalimantan. The largely open land is deemed highly suitable for oil-palm cultivation in terms of soil conditions, terrain and climate. As part of the agreement smallholders' co-operatives, comprising approximately 4,500 hectares, will be developed in the vicinity of the project and will be managed by the Group.  As with the Bangka project, the co-operatives’ fruit will be processed by the Group’s mills, the first of which is due to be commissioned towards the end of 2011.  At 30 June 2011, 12,200 hectares had been planted of which 3,500 hectares have been allocated to the smallholder schemes.

Bangka Island
In 2005 the Group invested in a 90% share of an Indonesian company, PT Gunung Pelawan Lestari ("GPL"), which, it is planned, will develop 10,000 hectares of environmentally-suitable land into oil palm over the next three to four years, of which 4,000 hectares will be allocated to the smallholders’ co-operative schemes. The other 10% of GPL is owned by an Indonesian businessman, Mr Karli Boenjamin. As at 30 June 2011, some 4,000 hectares had been planted. Of these 1,300 hectares have been allocated to the smallholder co-operatives. These will be developed and managed by GPL and the co-operatives’ fruit will be processed by GPL’s mill. The board believes that this will enhance local community relations and accelerate the rate at which land is released for development.

Main producers and consumers

Please click here to see graphs illustrating the main producers and consumers of palm oil for the year 2010.