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ublicly listed palm-oil producer PT Astra Agro Lestari (AALI) saw a twofold net profit growth this year as of September, thanks to an improvement in crude palm oil (CPO) prices as well as an increase in production.

AALI, the plantation unit of diversified conglomerate Astra International Indonesia, reported that its net profits doubled to Rp 1.88 trillion (US$155.48 million) during the first nine months of this year from Rp 910.9 billion between January and September last year.

'€œWe managed to post a significant net profit growth because the average CPO price is better than the previous quarter, so that affected our sales,'€ Astra Agro Lestari corporate secretary Tofan Mahdi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

According to its financial report, the company saw a 41.22-percent year-on-year net revenue increase to Rp 11.75 trillion as of September this year from Rp 8.32 trillion in the same period last year.

The revenue growth was prompted by a 27.8-percent increase in its CPO price to Rp 8,604 per kilogram as of September this year, compared to Rp 6,735 per kg in the same period last year.

Global prices started to strengthen late last year and went on to hit 2,916 ringgit a ton on the Bursa Malaysia Derivative on March 11, the highest level since September 2012. CPO prices on the Malaysian bourse rallied above the 2,200-ringgit level to 2,263 ringgit on Oct. 29.

Despite high growth in the third quarter, Tofan said the company was still facing various challenges on the external side, especially volatility in the global CPO market.

According to Tofan, companies involved in the commodity business are forced to survive amid tight competition through increasing efficiency as well as crop quality, which could lead to a higher gain of yield in the market.

'€œWe have to be competitive in managing the sides of production and labor costs, because those items depend on our internal management, while the global price is a variable beyond our control,'€ he said.

Furthermore, Tofan said AALI would remain on track with its production target to grow moderately around 5-10 percent to a total of 30 million tons this year. The calculation was also based on other uncontrollable variables, such as weather and government regulations, he said.

He said weather conditions were also significant in affecting crops as the company'€™s CPO supplies in the first half of the year had not been disrupted by El Nino, which did not occur as predicted earlier.

AALI produced 1.14 million tons of CPO between January and August this year, a 20-percent increase from 951,399 tons in the same period last year, according to its financial statement published on the Indonesia Stock Exchange'€™s website.

The financial report also shows that AALI booked a 40.94-percent increase in its other revenues to
Rp 96.97 billion in the third quarter this year compared to Rp 68.8 billion between January and September last year.

The net profit growth was also helped by a declining loss in foreign exchange to Rp 49.3 billion between January and September this year from Rp 335.3 billion in the same period last year.

As of September, the company booked Rp 18.16 trillion in total assets, an increase of 21.39 percent from Rp 14.96 trillion in the same period last year.

Shares in AALI closed at
Rp 21,075 apiece on Wednesday, an increase of 5.51 percent from Rp 19,975 a day earlier. (gda)