REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - A state-owned cement company, PT Semen Baturaja will acquire three areas of land in Sumatra to strengthen its reserves of raw materials.
"We are currently negotiating the price with the owners. The first land is located in Jambi, while two others in South Sumatra," President Director of Semen Baturaja, Pamudji Rahardjo said on Saturday.
Acquisition of the land became part of the company's strategy to increase production in coming years. Currently, the maximum production capacity of the company is 1.25 million tons cement per year.
By the end of the year, Semen Baturaja targetted the production of 1.5 million tons. To encourage the achievement of these target, the company will build a new plant, Semen Baturaja II, with a capacity of 750 thousand tons cement per year. At least the project needs 350 billion IDR.
The company will also begin to operate another plant, Semen Baturaja III, at the end of 2016 to increase production capacity to 3.8 million tons per year. Sales growth followed by operational efficiency management, has increased the corporate profitability. In last five years, gross profit, operating income and net income grew by 13 percent, 14 percent and 22 percent.