State-owned plantation companies are gearing up for higher sugar production this year, focusing on ways to bolster efficiency and productivity, both on farm and off-farm, instead of plantation expansion.
State-owned plantation firm PTPN II, for instance, aims to increase cane productivity to 85-87 tons per ha from 79.94 tons per ha last year. Extraction rate is projected to increase to 7 percent from 5.8 percent, company Finance Director Naif Ali Dahbul was quoted by Kontan on Friday as saying.
White crystal sugar production is targeted to increase by 26.26 percent to 59,500 tons this year from 47,122 tons last year, Naif said.
“There is no land expansion, it will still be 10,000 ha owned by PTPN II. Probably, ther will be an additional of 500 ha from farmers as third party partner,” he said.
He added that this year, PTPN II plans to invest Rp 200 billion for its two sugar mills to increase extraction rate.
Meanwhile, PTPN X in East Java also plans to increase productivity by 10 percent to 85 tons per ha, and extraction rate to 8.3 percent from 7.95 percent, Corporate Secretary Joio Santoso told Kontan.
He said that sugar production is projected to increase by 19.6 percent this year to 534,728 tons from 447,088 tons last year. (rei)
