Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.
Today's Headlines Sulawesi
About one month after the devastating earthquakes that hit the island of Lombok and killed nearly 500 people, disaster has now struck at coastal cities and villages in Central Sulawesi. On Friday 28 September 2018 a big 7.5-magnitude earthquake (followed by numerous aftershocks) triggered a massive tsunami that hit at least two cities: provincial capital Palu and Donggala.
Chances of chocolate-based candy or food products becoming more expensive in the near future have grown due to the weak harvest in Ghana, the world’s second-largest cocoa producer. Most likely, the country will fail to fulfill sales contracts hence leading to higher global cocoa prices. In New York and London cocoa futures jumped roughly seven percent in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Indonesian cocoa exports declined 56 percent (y/y) in April 2015. The main cocoa producing regions have been struggling with bad weather and diseases.
In front of the Joang '45 Museum, which illustrates Indonesia's battle for independence, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (Governor of Jakarta) officially declared that Jusuf Kalla is his running mate (or the vice-presidential candidate) in the upcoming presidential election (scheduled for 9 July 2014). It had been speculated for weeks that Jusuf Kalla (former Indonesian Vice-President, businessman and philanthropist), would be Jokowi's running mate but it was only officially declared just after noon (local Jakarta time) on Monday (19/05).
Perusahaan Perkebunan London Sumatra Indonesia (PP London Sumatra Indonesia or Lonsum), controlled by the powerful Salim Group, is an Indonesian plantation company focused on the production of palm oil, rubber, tea and cocoa. Its estates are located on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. Amid weak global demand for commodities, the company posted a 72.1 percent fall in net profit over the first six months of 2013. Its shares have fallen 48.0 percent since the first trading day of 2013.
The economy of Indonesia continues to be dominated by the island of Java, Indonesia's most populous island with around 130 million people or 60 percent of Indonesia's total population. In the second quarter of 2013, Java contributed 58.15 percent to the nation's total economic growth. Far behind Java are Sumatra (23.90 percent) and Kalimantan (8.73 percent). Within Java, the Greater Jakarta area accounts for 16.50 percent of the country's total economic growth, followed by East Java (15.21 percent) and West Java (14.05 percent).
Cement sales in Indonesia between January and May 2013 rose 6.9 percent to 23 million tons (year on year). In the month May alone, cement sales rose by 2.1 percent (to 4.7 million tons), one of the lowest monthly growth rates seen in the last years. Between January and April 2013, cement consumption had still grown at a pace of 8.6 percent (YoY). These numbers thus seem to indicate that Indonesia's economic growth is slowing down as cement sales reveal the state and pace of infrastructure and real estate projects.
Latest Columns Sulawesi
Indonesian cement sales jumped 37.4 percent (year-on-year) to 4.7 million tons in August 2014 due to higher cement demand from Indonesian property and infrastructure developers. Widodo Santoso, Chairman of the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI), said that the development of smelters, power plants, apartments, hotels, and social housing has been key to improved cement sales last month. However, the 37.4 percentage point growth was also caused by fewer working days in August 2013 as the Lebaran holiday fell in that month.
The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) believes that Indonesia's recently introduced ban on the export of unprocessed minerals, in effect since 12 January 2014, will result in slowing economic growth in several regions in the eastern part of Indonesia as these regions are main sources of mineral production. Doddy Zulverdi, Head of the Economic Assessment Group in Bank Indonesia's Department of Economic and Monetary Policy, said that Sulawesi and Kalimantan will post slowing economic growth this year.
Shareholders of Vale Indonesia, Indonesia's largest nickel producer, approved the proposal to allocate USD $6.7 million to general reserve and to distribute final dividend of USD $0.00252 per share. The dividend - equivalent to USD $25 million in aggregate from Vale Indonesia's net profit - will be paid on 31 May 2013. Indonesian shareholders will be paid in Indonesian rupiah based on the Central Bank's mid rate on 17 May 2013. Non-Indonesian shareholders will be paid in US dollar.
