• Climate Change to Enhance Indonesia’s Role in Global Coffee Industry?

    Being one of the world’s leading producers of coffee beans, Indonesia may benefit from climate change that causes an eastward shift in the global coffee production over the next couple of decades. According to new research conducted by Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture, the global supply of arabica beans is threatened due to a two degrees Celsius temperature increase as well as changing rain patterns. Brazil, the world’s leading coffee producer, will be affected strongly by this climate change.

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  • Stocks & Rupiah Update Indonesia: Mixed Signals Federal Reserve

    Indonesian stocks continued to fall today (30/04). After the first trading session, Indonesia’s benchmark Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.11 percent to 5,099.83 points. The index was negatively affected by yesterday’s weakening stock indices in the USA and Europe. These indices experienced a correction due to mixed signals stemming from the latest US Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting. Contrary to its March policy statement, the Fed did not rule out hiking rates at the next meeting. However, it also downgraded the US growth outlook.

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  • Groundbreaking Trans-Sumatra Toll Road; Infrastructure Projects Indonesia

    Today, Indonesian President Joko Widodo will lay the first stone for the groundbreaking ceremony of the 2,700 km Trans-Sumatra toll road project, linking Lampung to Aceh on the resource-rich island of Sumatra (Indonesia’s second-largest island in terms of geographic size). The toll road, which is one of the key priority infrastructure projects for the Indonesian government, is estimated to require a total of IDR 300 trillion (USD $23.1 billion) of investment. Ten years after parts of the toll road were first tendered, construction can finally commence.

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  • Coal Mining Update Indonesia: Coal Production to Fall in 2015

    Pandu Sjahrir, Chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI), said that Indonesia’s coal production could decline by 24 percent (y/y) in 2015 as the country’s coal miners have been cutting production volumes amid the world’s low coal prices. Reportedly, the free cash flow of various Indonesian coal miners have turned negative, meaning that generated cash from coal production cannot cover companies’ operational costs. In fact, the country’s coal miners are now eager to diversify to other businesses in order to stay alive.

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