REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SURABAYA -- State plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara X (PTPN X) said it produced 468,337 tons of sugar in 2014 from 11 factories it has in East Java.
The production fell around 3 percent from the previous year on climatic anomaly , company's president Subiyono said here on Wednesday (7/1).
"Despite the anomaly with excessive rainy days in 2013, the company's production remained relatively stable and the company is still the largest sugar producer in the country," he said.
The sugar grade of the sugarcane from its sugar plantation was low because of the too much rain which also hampered maintenance and delayed harvest, he said.
The management managed to reduce the damage with improvement in the cultivation and revitalization of factories, he added.
"In 2014, the sugar grade of the company's sugarcane was 7.64 percent rising significantly from 7.19 percent amid the climatic anomaly," he said.
The productivity of plantation averaged 85 tons per hectare, which is relatively high compared with other sugar plantations in East Java, he said.
The company has 72,233 hectares of sugar plantations in East Java, and sugar mills with a milling capacity of 37,234 tons of sugarcane per day , he said.
He said the financial performance of the company was not up to expectation in 2014 on sharp fall in sugar price to as low as Rp8,500 per kilogram.
The price fell from Rp9,500 per kilogram in 2013 and Rp10,000 per kilogram in 2012.
"The price fall was a result of illegal sales of double refined sugar in the market of consumption sugar," he said.
Double refined sugar, produced from raw sugar, which is imported, is to feed industries such as food and beverage factories, but it has been sold in the market of consumption sugar putting pressure on locally produced sugar, he said.
"In a bid to make up with the price fall, the company has to improve efficiency cutting production cost," he said.
The sugar production cost of PTPN X was reduced to as low as Rp5,758 per kilogram in 2014 , lower than Rp6,376 per kilogram in 2013, he added.
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