Friday 5 December 2008

China Planning To Invest In Biodiesel In N Sumatra

Personal note: Regular readers may recall my waring about the
rapid spread of Chinese business across Indonesia.


China Planning To Invest In Biodiesel In N Sumatra

4 December 2008

Medan, N Sumatra ( Berita ) : A few Chinese investors are planning to invest in palm oil-based biodiesel production in North Sumatra and have in this context sent an exploration team to this province, a local official said.

“A team of Chinese businessmen is expected to arrive in North Sumatra to talk about their investment plan and survey local conditions,” Washington Siregar, acting head of North Sumatra’s plantation office, said here Wednesday.

He made the statement at Medan’s Polonia airport while waiting for the arrival of the Chinese businessmen’s team which had been initially set 11 am local time but was delayed to 01.30 pm.

During its stay in N Sumatra, the Chinese businessmen’s team was scheduled to visit PT Perkebunan’s oil palm plantation and factory in Serdang Bedagai and the Oil Palm Research Center (PPKS) in Medan.

He said the Chinese businessmen were interested in investing in oil palm processing in North Sumata after becoming one of the largest importers of crude palm oil (CPO) from the province. “The Chinese investors are interested in financing about 146 biodiesel factories to be built in Indonesia in 2009,” Siregar said.

The North Sumatra provincial administration was pleased about the Chinese businessmen group’s visit as it could bring a “fresh wind” amidst the sluggish business and investment situation caused by the global crisis, he added.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), CPO and other animal/phyto oil exports in the January-October 2008 period were valued at US$3.947 million or up by 66.18 percent from the same period last year when the figure was recorded at US$2.375 million. In the January-October 2008 period, China was North Sumatra’s third largest export destination with a value of US$629.112 million after India and Japan. ( ant )

http://beritasore.com/2008/12/04/china-planning-to-invest-in-biodiesel-in-n-sumatra/