P

lantation company PT Astra Agro Lestari (AALI) reported on Tuesday increasing sales volume in the first four months of the year amid an ongoing decline of selling prices.

AALI said that its crude palm oil (CPO) sales rose 25.9 percent to 508,505 tons during the January-April period compared to 403,802 tons in the same period last year.

The company said that sales to the domestic market grew higher by 26.4 percent while exports increased 12 percent.

Kernel sales volume reached 106,522 tons in the first four months of the year, increasing by 59.8 percent from a year earlier.

However, the company saw its CPO average selling price drop by 17.8 percent to Rp 6,518 (66 US cents) per kilogram in the first four months of the year, from Rp 7,932 per kilogram year-on-year.

Kernel's average selling price dove deeper by 30.8 percent to Rp 2,830 per kilogram in the first four months of the year from Rp 4,092 per kilogram in the corresponding period last year.

AALI was traded at Rp 17,700 at Tuesday's closing, a 1.43 percent increase from a day earlier. The company's share price has dropped by around 12 percent year-to-date.