JAKARTA. PT Eagle High Plantations Tbk (BWPT) recorded increases in crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) production by 383,000 tonnes (24%) and 63,000 tonnes (29%) respectively. However, declining CPO prices caused the company to post a loss.
"The increases in production proved BWPT's success in improving the quality of operational supports," said BWPT President Director Nicolaas B. Tirtadinata in a press release, Friday (29/3).
In 2018 BWPT commenced the commercial operation of a new palm processing plant. The plant has a capacity of 45 tonnes per hour and can process harvested palm from plantations managed by BWPT's subsidiary PT Tandan Sawita Papua. BWPT also started to earn results from the innovation of a system that helps gather data completely, quickly, and accurately to support analytical precision and decision making.
However, CPO prices in 2018 dropped 13% and affected BWPT's revenues, which only grew 1% to Rp 3.083 trillion. Thus, BWPT posted a net loss of Rp 462.6 billion. "BWPT wouldn't have posted a loss if CPO prices had at least been the same as 2017," said Mr Tirtadinata. (AM/MS)