1. PRESIDENT MEGAWATI MAKES IMPROMPTU VISITS TO GARMENT FACTORIES.

Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri made an impromptu visit to two garment factories in the Pulo Gadung industial area in east Jakarta where she held a dialog with the factories' workers.
Megawati, who is also chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), was accompanied by the party's deputy general secretary, Pramono Anung, and a number of presidential security guards.
The two garment factories the president visited were PT Buma Apparel Industry and PT Won Woo Indonesia which each employ more than 1,000 workers, mostly women.
After the dialog with the workers, Megawati said she had made the impromptu visit because she wanted to get first-hand information about the real conditions at the facories in relation with the rights of the workers and their work safety.
"I do this because workers' rights and work safety are at times ignored," Megawati said, adding that she had also asked about the companies' security system in anticipating the danger of fire.
During the dialog with the workers, Megawati also asked about their rights for maternity and menstrual leaves.

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2. CHINESE, MALAYSIAN, INDIAN INVESTORS TO PARTICIPATE IN OIL-PALM PLANTATION POJECTS.

Malaysian, Chinese and Indian investors will be involved in a project to open oil-palm plantations on critical land in East and West Kalimantan, an official on the vice presidential staff said.
The foreign investors would take part in the project under bilateral arrangements, the vice presidential staff official, La Ode Kamaludin, said on the sidelines of a meeting with Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation.
He could not indicate the exact locations of the areas that would be covered by the project but said it would include one million hectares of land in East Kalimantan and one million hectares in West Kalimantan.
According to La Ode, the absence of vegetation on the critical lands would only make it easier to turn them into plantations.
"The plantations will not be run according to nucleus system but the local people will be given a role to play in them while the land will remain partly theirs and partly the state's," he said.
The plantation project was expected to absorb some two million workers and would become a solution for illegal Indonesian workers deported from Malaysia, La Ode said.
"At the beginning, the idea was to solve the problems posed by last year's deportation of hundreds of migrant workers from Malaysia to Nunukan (East Kalimantan)," he explained.
Laborers at the plantations would be paid the same wages as their peers working on oil-palm plnntations in Malaysia, he said.
"The standard wages will not be lower than those prevailing in Malaysia," La Ode said.
The project was expected to be started in late 2004 with a total investment of Rp5 trillion.
The land-clearing process would be conducted gradually because based on Malaysia's experience, it would need three to four years to open 100,000 hectares of land.
Thus it would take 10 years to clear 1 million hectares of land, La Ode said.
"The opening of the oil-palm plantations will be followed by development of downstream industries so that we will be able to enjoy the added value of crude palm oil," La Ode said.
The foreign investors had also expresssed interest in participating in the development of other agri-business ventures such as rubber plantations, La Ode said.

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3. CHEVRON TEXACO EYES DOMESTIC FUEL OIL RETAIL SALES.

Jakarta - A US oil company Chevron Texaco has expressed interest in enggaing in the fuel oil retail business in Indonesia, an official of state oil and gas policy agency BP Migas said.
"Chevron Texaco is interested in entering the fuel oil retail market in Indonesia," head of downstream agency, Tubagus Haryono said.
Tubagus said, the company should seek a license from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry before it could enter the retail market and prepare fuel oil reserves in Indonesia.
"They are ready to have their own reserves," Tubagus added.
The US company, he said, might work in cooperation with PT Pertamina in the retail business. "But we will not intervene if it is a business-to-business matter," he siad.
Previously, BP Migas issued license to six companies to import fuel oil that would be sold at gas stations throughout the country.
"The six companies consist of five local companies and one foreign company," Tubagus said.
The five local companies are PT Sigma Rancang Perdana, PT Pandu Selaras, PT Elnusa Petrofin, PT Elnusa Harapan, and PT Raven Sejahtera.
The foreign company was PT Krida Petragraha, an affiliate of Dutch company Shell.
The government has opened the chance for investors to enter the domestic fuel oil retail market.
However, the companies would only sell fuel oil with on octane content of 91 and over. "We will only open (the market) for high- octane fuel oil while we will not touch the low-octane fuel oil trade because this type of fuel oil is still being subsidzed by the government," he said.

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4. GOVT TO CONTINUE POLICY OF SUBSIDIZING FARMERS, SAYS MINISTER.

The government will continue its policy of giving subsidy to farmers to enable them to buy fertilizer although it would violate a regulation of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Agriculture Minister Bungaran Saragih said.
"This will violate a WTO rule but we don't care because we are on the side of our farmers," Bungaran said at the release of fertilizer sacks labelled "government subsidized fertilizer" in Cikampek district, West Java.
Present on the ocassion were also ranking officials at the ministry and president director of fertilizer company PT Pupuk Kujang Dadang Heru Kodri.
The government, Bungaran said, had allocated Rp1.3 trillion in funds to subsidize the gas price for the fertilizer industry.
According to the minister, some other countries were pursuing similar policies. "By providing the subsidy, we are only emulating other countries," he said.
With the subsidy, the price of urea-based fertilizer in Indonesia was expected to become the lowest in the world at Rp 1,050 per kg at retailers, while the price in other countries was equal to Rp1,350 per kg.
Bungaran said big plantations would not enjoy the subsidy thus the use of the labelled sacks for subsidized fertilizer would make it easier to monitor its distribution.
Meanwhile, president director of PT Pupuk Kujang Dadang Heru Kodri said the company would monitor the commodity's price fluctuationa and launch a market operation if the price rose sharply.
On rice production, Bungaran said, during the past four years the government had raised paddy field productivity from 4.3 tons to 4.6 tons per hectare.
Indonesia's rice production on the average had reached 53 million tons annually.
Bungaran admitted, he had two main duties as minister. The first was to handle the problem of food scarcity and the second to lay a strong basis for the further development of agriculture.

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5. SIXTY COMPANIES INTERESTED IN BUYING TWO PERTAMINA TANKERS.

Sixty foreign and local companies have expressed interest in buying two tankers of state oil and gas company PT Pertamina assembled in South Korea, a Pertamina spokesman said.
"Three quarters of their number are foreign companies and the rest local companies," Deden Wahyu Edi, Pertamina's deputy director for shipping affairs, said.
But Deden could not name the ompanies.
Pertamina and the US sales company Goldman Sach Group Inc. would hold a meeting with the companies on Friday. A tender would be opened on May 25 and the names of shortlisted bidders would be announced on May 27.
The tankers Pertamina has put up for sale are VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) of 260,000 DWT which are still in the process of being assembled by South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries. The assembling job was to be completed in July.
Hari Poernomo, Pertamina director for downstream industries, said the tankers were only to be used to carry fuel oil and crude oil between Pertamina's Cilacap refinery and the Middle East.
With such limited use, Hari said, the operational costs of owning a tanker would be higher than renting a tanker.
The tankers' operations would be effective if they could be used for all destinations, both domestic and foreign destinations, he added.
According to Hari, Pertamina would need shipping operators to run such huge ships which might cost US$1.5 million a year. In addition, the company only had experience to operate tankers of up to 80,000 DWT.
Earlier, Pertamina commissioner Roes Aryawijaya said the company's board of commissioners had agreed to the plan to sell the tankers and maintain its home-made tankers.
"We will maintain our home-made tankers and not sell them but two tankers made in South Korea will be sold," Roes said, adding that huge funds would be nneded to pay the insurance and operational costs of the Korean-made tankers.
According to an evaluation by Pertamina's boards of directors and commissioners, Roes said, it would be more efficient to rent rather than operate its own tankers.
Pertamina President Director Ariffi Nawawi said the renting of a tanker was 50 percent cheaper than owning one. "The operational cost of a tanker could reach US$45,000 per day, while the rental fee of a tanker is only US$25,000 per day."
Pertamina ordered the two tankers from South Korea when it was led by its former president director, Baihaki Hakim, who had intended to strengthen the company's fuel oil transportation fleet.

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6. BUSINESS CIRCLES OPTIMISTIC US DOLLAR RATE HIKE NOT LAST LONG.

The Indonesian business circles have expressed optimism that the US dollar rates hike against the rupiah which reached a record high of Rp9,000 per dollar on Tuesday would not last long and bring about a short term impact on the economy.
"It is expected that the decline in the rupiah's exchange rates is merely an ordinary fluctuation instead of a phenomenal case," general chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) MS Hidayat said here on Wednesday.
He was also convinced that the Central Bank (Bank Indonesia-BI) would intervene in the money market to help stabilize the rupiah so that the depreciation would not burden the economy.
Citing an example, Hidayat said, BI intervened in the money market as the rupiah ended at Rp 9,020 against the greenback on Tuesday (May 11) to prevent the local unit from further declining.
Hidayat admitted that the US dollar rates hike led to the dollar buying rush, causing the rupiah rates to weaken.
"When the rupiah exchange rate remained at the level of Rp9,000 it won't become a problem for the country's businessmen,"
he said, adding that the rupiah's lowering rates had nothing to do with the country's political situation ahead of the July 5 direct presidential elections.

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7. PT DI EXPECTING TO SELL TWO CN-235s TO SOUTH KOREA.

Indonesia's aircraft-making company PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) expects to be able to sell two CN-235 aircaft at the price of US$30 million each to South Korea, a company spokesman said.
"We hope we will be able to sign the sales-and-purchase contract with South Korea by the end of 2004," Iwan W Soemekto, PT DI's director for trade and business development, said.
The CN-235s to be sold to South Korea would be of the "maritime survey aircraft" (MSA) type equipped with radar to detect movements on the sea surface, making them suitable for patrol duties to spot fish poaching and pollution by industrial wastes.
South Korea needed MSA-type aircraft because its maritime territory covered a much wider area than its land territory, he said.
The CN-235 MSAs, complete with added equipment, including radar, would be sold at the price of US$30 million per unit.
"Actually, the aircraft alone costs between US$14 million and US$15 million but because of the extra equipment, it is priced almost double," he said.

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8. INDONESIAN AMBASSADOR ACCOMPANIES MALAYSIAN BUSINESMEN TO N SUMATERA.

Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia Rusdihardjo accompanied a group of Malaysian business entrepreneurs at a meeting with the North Sumatera Governor to explore investment prospects in the province.
The Malaysian businessmen are engaged in the property, housing, hotel and tourism sectors.
Datuk Alex Chen Kooi Chiew of Metro Kajang Holding said they became interested in doing business in North Sumatera as he believed the province is highly prospective for investment.
According to Rusdihardjo, one-time Indonesian National Police Chief, the Malaysian businessmen wished to establish cooperation with the government and their counterparts in North Sumatera to raise the popularity of the province in the eyes of the international community, which in turn, is expected to lure more foreign investors to the province.
Rusdihardjo said some of the problems which were still posing an obstacle to the smooth flow of foreign investment into the province, and to Indonesia in general, include some unfavourable regulations, licencing and land problems.
In Malaysia, he said, businessmen can easily obtain a lease on land for as long as 99 years, but in Indonesia such right is valid for not longer than 30 years. A business licence in Malaysia can be obtained in two weeks only, he added.
Datuk Alex Chen, president of Metro Kajang Holding of Malaysia, said the company planned to invest 10 to 20 million US dollars in North Sumatera, especially in housing, animal husbandry, farming, miniing and satellite town development.

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9. INDONESIAN TIN MINING COY GAINS SIGNIFICANT PROFIT.

Publicly-listed Indonesian tin mining company, PT Timah, made a profit of Rp 76.4 billion in 2003, said a statement issued.
The company's profit last year posted a 470 percent increase compared to Rp 13.4 billion in 2002, said the statement.
The increase in last year's profit was attributed to the increase in the world market price of tin, the surge in the US dollar, and the company's improving performance, it said.
The world market price of tin stood at US$6,500 per ton late last December, increasing from US$4,285 per ton early in January last year.
The company is thus planning to develop its factory into a full-scale tin mining firm by taking advantage of offshore tin ore in Bangka-Belitung province, the statement said, adding that the company will likely realize the investment by teaming up with domestic or foreign parties.
A recent stakeholders' meeting has decided that PT Timah will open a smelter in the Kundur area, Tanjung Balai Karium subdistrict, in Kepulauan Riau district, Riau province, in a bid to increase its smelting capacity and to activate offshore exploration, it said.
The statement said taking over other mines and extending oil palm plantations in Bangka island are part of the company's plans this year.

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New foreign investments in Indonesia's industrialized island of Batam in the first quarter of the year dropped 28 percent, consisting of only 21 development projects, compared to 29 projects in the same period last year, a spokesman has said.
The new investments were worth US$ 55.58 million and would employ 8,582 workers, public relations officer of the Batam Authority, Fathullah, said.
He said the new investments came from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Tunisia and South Korea.

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11. SUGAR PLANT IN INDONESIA'S E JAVA TO STEP UP PRODUCTION.

The sugar plant in the town of Djatiroto, Lumajang district in Indonesia's East Java province is expected to step up its production to 100,000 tons per year in the next five years, plant spokesman, Adig Suwandi, said.
Last year, the plant produced 64,000 tons of sugar or about 20 percent of the total 321,560 tons produced by 16 sugar plants in East Java.
"By improving the plant's performance, the Djatiroto sugar plant, built during the Dutch colonial period, is expected to increase its production in the coming years," Adig noted.
He made the statement in response to President Megawati Soekarnoputri's plan to attend the grand sugarcane harvest in the town on Friday.
He said the plant last year milled about 867,800 tons of sugarcane, produced by some 9,438 hectares of sugarcane plantation in Lumajang.

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12. GERMANY TO DONATE US$12 MILLION TO OVERCOME POLLUTION IN INDONESIA.

Germany will extend a donation and soft loan of about US$12 million to deal with industrial pollution and empower small and medium industries in Indonesia, press attache of the German embassy here, Joerg Barkeling, said.
Barkeling said deputy minister of Germany's Development and Economic Cooperation Ministry, Uschi Eid, will sign here on Friday two agreements on the financial cooperation between Germany and Indonesia.
He said both agreements deal with the grant and the soft loan for small and medium industries and industrial pollution, and the cooperation to reduce the number of HIV/AIDS victims in Indonesia.
The cooperation also involves Germany's Department of Finance and the German Development Bank.
The grant, Barkeling said, will be channeled through Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Ekspor Indonesia (BEI).
On the agreement to reduce the number of HIV/AIDS victims in Indonesia, which according to the Health Ministry has reached 130,000 people, the German government will donate 5 million euros (Rp50 billion).

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13. RUPIAH WILL STRENGTHEN AGAIN, SAYS INDON CENTRAL BANK OFFICIAL.

Central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), has predicted that the rupiah's exchange rate would rebound to 8,700 against the US dollar in the next three months, due to the strengthening of Indonesia's macroeconomy.
The weakening of the rupiah is solely due to the strengthening of the US economy, BI deputy governor, Aslim Tajuddin, said.
The possibility that the US Federal Reserve would soon gradually increase its interest rate has weakened the Indonesian currency.
The rupiah was trading at between 9,035 and 9,055 against the greenback at the interspot money market here Friday morning, decreasing from between 8,935 and 9,940 on Thursday.
Other currencies in the region, among them the Japanese yen, the Thai baht and the Singaporean dollar, have weakened as well following the Fed's plan to increase its interest rate.
To overcome the weakening of the rupiah, BI will continue to intervene in the market and monitor banks likely to make speculations against the rupiah, Aslim said.
Bank Indonesia, he said, will study its policy on its net open position (NOP).
"If necessary, we will base the NOP on every bank transaction, not a general NOP like the one (we) used today," he said.

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Indonesia would have to seek some six billion US dollars in investment to meet its electronic exports target worth US$30 billion in 2010, an official has said.
Industry and Trade Ministry's Director for Information Technology and Electronics I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan said that Indonesia has drawn up a plan to develop its electronic industry for the next five to ten years.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has prepared a concept for the development of the electronic industry, Putu said.
"In a bid to meet its 2010 electronic export target worth US$30 billion, we need some US$6 billion," Putu said, adding that the total of investment in the electronic manufacturing industry has now reached US$4 billion.
"Thus, we still have six years to persuade investors to help develop the electronic industry sector in the country," he said.
He pointed out that the ministry in the expansion of the electronic industry has focused its attention to the sectors of telecommunications, information technology and household manufactured goods like refrigerators and air-conditioners.

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Foreign loans are not the answer to eradicating poverty as they are only passed from one generation to the next, Indonesia's State Minister for National Development Planning Kwik Kian Gie said.
"Poverty eradication should be carried out based on productive ways so that the effort could raise productivity, the purchasing power, and competition among poor people," he said during the launch of a report on Millennium Development Goals.
International funding institutions give priority to poverty eradication, but unfortunately, foreign parties consider poverty eradication as mere projects, said Kwik, who also chairs the National Development Planning Body (Bappenas).
He noted that the trade liberalization implemented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Ethiopia has worsened its economy.
"We realize that poverty has something to do with the people's dire needs and unemployment but we should avoid using foreign loans to finance poverty eradication," he said.

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Indonesia would face a deeper economic crisis if the world market price of crude oil stays at more than US$40 per barrel, Mines and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said. "Indonesia will face more trouble if the world market price of crude oil remains high," Purnomo said after signing an agreement on the resumption of the construction of a hydrothermal electricity plant.
Purnomo, rotating president and secretary general of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC), said the organization will discuss a plan to raise its oil production, when it meets in Amsterdam on May 19.
The meeting, he said, will likely discuss Saudi Arabia's proposal to raise the OPEC quota by 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), allowing the organization to produce 25 million bpd again.
Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR) and Mines and Energy Ministry have assumed an oil production of 1.1 million bpd and a price of US$24 per barrel for the draft state budget for 2005.

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17. MALAYSIAN INVESTOR BUYS 58.41 PCT OF DANAREKSA STOCK.

A Malaysian investor, Tun Daim Zainuddin and ICB Financial Group, has finally bought 58.41 percent of PT Danareksa's stocks in Bank Bumiputera.
"We hope the transaction will be completed at the end of May 2004," said Danareksa's director, Harry Danardojo.
ICB Financial Group is an international bank part of whose shares is owned by Tun Daim Zainuddin.
"The aquisition of Bank Bumiputera was part of ICB's plan to enlarge its banking network in Asia," he said.
Meanwhile, Bumiputera Life Insurance (Asuransi Jiwa Bumiputera) will retain its 42 percent stake in Bank Bumiputera.

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18. RI, TUNISIA TO FORM BUSINESSMEN'S COUNCIL.

Indonesia and Tunisia have agreed to form a businessmen's council to increase economic and trade relations between the two countries.
"The two countries have agreed to increase trade relations more intensively through a council of businessmen," chief of the National Agency for Export Development (BPEN)'s Center for the Development of the Middle Eastern and African market, Agus Tjahjono said.
The council will be set up when a 22-member Tunisian trade mission visited Indonesia on May 16-19 to find a wide range of products to be marketed in Tunisia, he said.
The mission coordinated by the chief of the Tunisian chamber of commerce and industry (Utica) and the Tunisian embassy in Indonesia comprise investment officials, information and telecommunication officers, businessmen and bankers.
While in Indonesia, the mission would also explore the possibility of cooperation in the economic and trade sector, exchange information, and establish cooperation between the BPEN and the Tunisia promotion board (CEPEX), he said.
They would also meet with their Indonesian counterparts during business luncheon, he said.

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19. GOVT TO SPEND RP1.3 TRILLION TO SUBSIDIZE FERTILIZER FOR FARMERS.

The government will spend Rp1.3 trillion to subsidise the price of fertilizer for farmers this year, an Agriculture Ministry official said.
The subsidized fertilizer would chiefly go to food crop farmers, secretary of the directorate general of food crops production development Tahlin Sudaryanto said here.
By providing the subsidy, the price of fertilizers at the farmers' level could hopefully be kept at Rp1,150 a kg, he said.
The subsidies would later be distributed through certain kiosks which bear special labels, he said.
The price of fertilizers sold at the kiosks would be different from that of fertilizers sold at other places, he said.
In addition to the fertilizer subsidies the government would also provide local farmers with other forms of assistance to increase rice production amidst a drop in national rice output which compelled the country to import the commodity, he said.
"By increasing rice production, the import of rice which in 2003 reached around 2 to 3 million tons can be kept down," he said.
Actually, the government had adopted a number of policies to raise the naional rice output by, among other things, channeling credits to farmers.

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20. INDONESIAN RATTAN FUNITURE NO MATCH IN INT'L MARKET COMPETITION.

Indonesia's rattan furniture cannot compete with similar commodities of East Asian and ASEAN countries on the international market.
Some East Asian and ASEAN countries which also produce rattan products were reportedly to have obtained their rattan basic material from Indonesia.
"China, for example, has emerged as Indonesia's main competitor in rattan furniture, as their products are of better quality and of lower prices by up to 40 percent in the European and American markets," Director of Forest Produce Processing and Marketing of the Forestry Ministry Banjar Yulianto Laban said.
The condition has been aggravated by the declining supply of rattan as raw material to the funiture production centers in Cirebon. In fact, around 70-80 percent of the country's rattan funiture exports came from this city.
Banjar said at present China is known to having a stock of rattan that can be used to produce the furniture in five years.
To anticipate the lack of raw material, according to him, the Forestry Minister and Trade and Industry Minister were trying to issue a joint decree to suspend the export of all kinds of rattan.
"Now the draft joint decree is already at the trade and industry ministry ready for further discussion and for eventual issuance," he said.
And pending the issuance of the joint decree, Banjar said, measures should be taken to develop the rattan processing industrial centers in various places of the origin of rattan to lower transportation cost.
It was reported that inter-insular shipment cost is often higher than land transportation from Kalimantan or Sumatera to the international market in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan or China.
By paying Rp 80,000 in forest resource fees per truck, and in the absence of sound competition just because of rattan funiture production is centralized in one place, the rattan seekers in the forests don't have a reference in offering their products to industries.
No wonder that the price of rattan furniture from China is 40 percent lower than that from Cirebon on the European and US markets, while actually the Chinese products are also of better quality.
Therefore, the relocation of the rattan processing industry must also be coupled with the dissemination of information and application of technology that may help improve the quality of the rattan funiture in the various regions.
So far Indonesia has been heavily dependent on Cirebon producers in the development of the rattan processing industry so that sound competition is difficult to create especially in the improvement of quality and added value of the rattan products.

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21. EU MARKET'S WIDENING NOT TO CHANGE CHANCES FOR INDON EXPORTS.

The widening of the European Union (EU)'s market with the increase in its membership from 15 to 25 countries since May 1, 2004, will not change Indonesia's chances to market its products there, although it must compete with other developing countries, a trade official said.
"The opportunities will remain open but our businessmen should have a better knowledge about the EU's product quality standards," Nuz Nurulia Ishak, chief of European Market developmnt at the National Agency for Export Developemnt (NAFED), said.
At the beginning of May, 2004, 10 East and Central European countries officially joined the EU, bringing the organization's membership to 25 countries (EU25).
The new members are Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus, Hongary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, and Malta.
According to Nuz Ishak, on the one hand, the enlargement would open more opportunities for Indonesian exports to the region.
"However, on the other hand, Indonesia will also have to compete with other developing countries in attracting investors from EU15 and also in exporting to EU15," Ishak said.
Th 15 old EU members are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

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22. GOVT BANS UREA-BASED FERTILIZER EXPORT.

The government has banned export of urea-based fertilizer effective in May in an effort to enable the industry to meet domestic demand, the director of upstream chemical industries at the Trade and Industry Ministry, Benny Wahyudi, said.
"Under present circumstances where we have urea scarcities in some regions, (the government) has banned export of fertilizer effective early May 2004," Benny said.
According to Benny, PT Pupuk Kaltim had exported 210,000 tons of urea-based fertilizer in the period of January-April 2004 but the export licenses had been issued by the ministry before the scarcities in the domestic market occurred.
The ban to export urea fertilizer would be effective indefinitely depending on the products' supply situation in the field, Benny added.
"We could not decide until when the export ban will be effective because it depends on the situation in the field," he said.
Urea exports in 2003 had declined to 936.400 tons, compared to 1.1 million tons in 2002.
Benny said, the industry's capacity to produce small-granule urea had reached 5.7 million annually while demand for plantations and industry was five million tons a year.
"When we comparing capacity with demand, there should not be any urea scarcity," he said.
The current scarcity, he continued, was caused by machinery damage at the Pusri III factory in April, followed by similar problems at PT Pupuk Kujang and Petrokimia Gresik in May, which had reduced production by 61,000 tons.
Fertilizer scarcity was also caused by a shift in the planting season, extensification of food crops in some areas, increased use of urea and price disparity.
In some provinces, demand for fertilizer had sharply increased and surpassed predicted demand due to a prolonged rainy season and extensification of food crops, Benny said.
In East Java, demand for urea-based fertilizer had reached 167,938 tons during March to April while the predicted demand was 137,674 tons.
In Central Java, demand had reached 137,640 tons compared to targeted demand of 123,392 tons, and in West Java demand had reached 108,485 tons, from its targeted demand of 88,665 tons.
On the possibility of illegal exports, Benny said, it could not be ruled out because there was wide gap between the commodity's prices at home and in other countriest.
"There are indeed indications of illegal export o fertilizer but we have so far not been able to catch the ships transporting the commodity illegally," Benny said.

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23. DUTCH INVESTOR TO MANAGE BENGKULU'S COAL RESERVES.

Establishing a foreign investment scheme, PT Tripatra Abadi, a Dutch investor, Paul Buntingx is to manage coal reserves in Indonesia's Bengkulu province to meet foreign markets demand, spokesman of the provincial administration Chairuddin said.
"The Dutch investor has discussed the plan with Governor of Bengkulu, Hasan Zen, while the exploration of the commodity would be soon carried out in North Bengkulu or Muko-Muko districts," said Chairuddin.
Related to the capital for establishing the business, he said that the foreign investor has provided a lot of capital, meanwhile a business contract is being completed by the investor in Jakarta.
However, he admitted that he did not kow how much mining consession needed by the foreign investor for establishing the business.
According to Chairuddin, the regional mining office needs more mining companies to manage the province's coal reserves which almost recorded at 100 million metric tons, while its production capacity is still recorded at 500,000 metric tons.
He said thet the commodity is in great demand in domestic market and abroad.
"Besides serving domestic market demand, such as a steam-power plant and cement industry in Padang, West Sumatera, the foreign market demand of the commodity, particularly in South Asia is anually recorded at seven million tons," he said adding that the price of the commodity in foreign market stands at 30 US dollars per metric ton.
He said that PT. Rekasindo has received a government's approval for managing the province's potential coal deposit in Sebayur, North Bengkulu district with a mining concession for exploring on 1,000 hectares and exploiting of 200 hectares of land.
He was optimistic that the province's abundance of coal reserves would be able to meet the foreign market demand.
Recently, the three coal industries, PT. Bukit Sunur Group, PT. Danau Mas Hitam Group and PT. Bara Indah Lestari are conducting an exploration of the comodity in the region, he said.

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24. GOVT NEEDS RP 6.5 TRILLIUN TO BUILD TRANS KALIMANTAN HIGHWAYS.

The government needs Rp6.5 trillion in funds to build and upgrade 6,290 km trans-Kalimantan highways on the Borneo island, a senior official said.
Purnarachman, Regional Infrastructure Director for Middle Region of the Ministry of Regional Infrastructure and Human Settlement, said that the trans Kalimantan highways are being built to help open isolated areas and boost development of economically potential regions in Kalimantan.
"Not all sections of the trans Kalimantan highways have been asphalted and some of them have not yet been constructed," he said.
He said that the trans Kalimantan highways consist of four axes, namely the south, central and the north axes.
The south axis stretches 3,277.83 km from Liku city in West Kalimantan to Malinau city in East Kalimantan encompassing four provinces.
The central axis stretches 1,44.48 km encompassing three provinces from Pontianak city in West Kalimantan to Samarinda in East Kalimantan.
The north axis stretches 1,569.80 km along the border with Sarawak of Malaysia from West Kalimantan to East Kalimantan.
Purnarachman said that some 4,592.42 km of the highways have been asphalted, 2,768.94 km have not yet been layered with asphalt and 929.75 km have not yet been constructed.
He said that it will take 13 years for the government to complete the construction of the trans Kalimantan highways.
Governors of all provinces in Kalimantan are now holding a meeting to discuss how to speed up the development of the trans Kalimantan highways, he said.

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25. INDONESIAN TIN MINING COMPANY TO BUILD SMELTER.

Indonesia's publicly listed tin mining company, PT Timah, will soon build a smelter in Kundur area in Tanjung Balai district, Riau province to raise its tin ore production, the company's president director, Tobrani Alwi, has said.
A general meeting of the company's shareholders held recently decided to build a smelter in Kundur because the area has five dredges which extract tin ore, he said.
Tin ore from Kundur is brought to the company's smelter in Mentok area, West Bangka district.
However, some of the tin ore are stolen on their way to Mentok, he said.
"The (Karimun) district head has asked us to build a smelter in Karimun because he wants the district to export tin on its own," he said.
He said the construction of the smelter, with a production capacity of 7,000 tons a year, will cost about Rp30 billion.
Timah booked a profit of Rp76.5 billion last year.

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26. HUMPUSS SUBSIDIARY BUYS TANKER FOR US$ 6.65 MILLION.

The Indonesian company, PT Kemika Jaya Sentosa, a subsidiary of publicly listed PT Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi, bought a 3,500 deadweight ton (DWT) tanker for US$ 6.65 million on Tuesday, Humpuss corporate secretary, Sapto Basuki, said.
The tanker, to be called the MT Griya Bali, will be used to transport chemicals, he said in a report to the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

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27. US BUSINESS COMMUNITY HOPING INDON PEOPLE TO ELECT STRONG LEADER.

The US busines community is hoping the Indonesian people will be able to elect a strong leader who can lead them on the path to a better future, an Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) executive said here.
The hope was voiced by the president of the US Chamber of Commerce, Thomas J Donahue, at a meeting with members of Kadin's news executive board in the US capital on Sunday (Monday, Indonesian time).
"The most important thing is to elect a capable figure. He (Donohue) said the US business community does not care whether Indonesia's new president will be a civilian or former military man. What mattered was that he or she can create political stability," Kadin Chairman Mohamad S Hidayat told ANTARA after the meeting.
Indonesia's next president must be a strong leader and be able to put the country on the path toward a better future in both political and economic terms, Hidayat quoted Donahue as saying.
Donahue also expressed hope Indonesia will achieve economic recovery and political stability to create public security so that businessmen can also continue to operate in the country.
"He (Donohue) called on Indonesia to finalise its political agenda soon and revitalize its economy which had deteriorated during the past five years," Hidayat said.
According to Hidayat, Kadin which represents 120 business associations in Indonesia had the same view as its US counterpart and would accept whoever was elected president of Indonesia.
"Kadin would prefer to have a strong leader who can create a strong government. Because only a strong leader and government can guarantee security and social stability. Economic recovery should be the priority of the new president and government so as to create as many job opportunities as possible. The number of unemployed people now has reached 40 million," Hidayat said.
About the prospects of Indonesia-US trade, Donahue noted that Indonesia was an important business partner to the United States, and forging partnerships with Indonesian counterparts was a main priority to US entrepreneurs.
Donahue was planning to visit Jakarta after Indonesia's presidential election on July 5 to discuss possibilities of business cooperation.
"Indonesia is an old friend to the United States in the political as well as economic fields. It is time for us to revive our cooperative relations," Donohue said.
After its meeting with the US Chamber of Commerce, the Kadin delegation is scheduled to meet the leadership of the US-ASEAN Business Council, officials of the US Department of Trade, the US Secretary of State and the US Trade Representative.
The Kadin delegation is visiting the US in conjunction with the staging of an Indonesian road-show in the country. It is also scheduled to visit Japan and China.
The visit to China would be done in June.

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28. ADB DENIES 70 PCT OF ITS PROJECTS IN RI FAILED.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has denied a report that 70 percent of its projects in Indonesia had failed but admitted that most of them had not been free of problems.
"It is not easy to define the success or failure of a project, much less in country as vast as Indonesia. We ourselves would not have been content if any of our projects was bugged by problems," ADB chief representative in Indonesia David Jay Green said.
Green was responding to a report recently released by Stephanie Fried, a senior researcher of non-governmental organzation (NGO) Hawai Environmental Defense Fund.
The report said at least 70 percent of ADB projects in Indonesia had not brought long-term economic and social benefits to the country. This condition was a tragedy for Indonesia as a country bearing a huge foreign debt burden, the report said.
In 2000, the amount of Indonesia's debts to the ADB had reached a total of US$16 billion.
Green said, he had contacted the NGO's office in Hawaii to sort out things over its report regarding the ADB projects in Indonesia.
According to Green, 90 percent of all ADB projects in Indonesia had received A, B and C ratings and more than half of them were rated A and B. The rest were rated D, E and F, he said.
Under a new rating system, only two or 10.5 percent of 19 ADB projects implemented in Indonesia between 1996 and 2000, were considered to have failed, while four projects (21.1 percent) were categorized as highly successful, 11 projects (57.9 percent) as partly successful and two projects (10.5 percent) as fairly successsful
Under a previous rating system, two projects were regarded as failed, six projects partly successful and 11 projects generally successful.
Green said, the ADB used five conservative criteria to measure the success of its projects, including the project's relevance from the viewpoint of the government's priorities, its efficiency, sustainability and the extent to which it led to institutional development.
The NGO might have judged the projects only in terms of their sustainability, Green said.
Green said return on investment (RoI) of ADB projects in Indonesia was higher than what the projects had cost. But he declined to be more specific saying that not all of the projects could be measured shortly after they had been completed.
The ADB representative said now the bank would be more careful in providing funds for a project. Before agreeing to assist a project, the bank would hold dialogues with the central government as well as the local administration and people concerned.
"It will be a more complex process but we can thereby learn many things from the problems," Green said.
On projects to be funded by the ADB in 2005, Green said, the matter was under negotiation with the Indonesian government.
Last year, ADB provided US$250 million in funds for various projects in Indonesia.
The sectors which have benefited from ADB financial assistance are social infrastructure, natural resources and agriculture, energy, finance, transportation and communication, industry and the non-oil and non-gas sector.
As per December 31, 2003, the total value of ADB loans to Indonesia stood at US$19.357 billion to finance 269 projects.

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29. ADB HOPES NEXT INDON PRESIDENT WILL IMRPOVE CLIMATE FOR INVESTMENT.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expressed hope that Indonesia's next president will be able to create a conducive climate for investment which was needed to develop the country.
"We need a conducive climate if we are expected to invest in Indonesia," ADB's chief representatives in Indonesia, David Jay Green, said.
Apart from government policies supporting investment, investors would also like to see the issuance of a better regulation on banckrupcy and improved public services.
To foreigners, Green said, the general elections in Indonesia were something interesting and there was nothing to be afraid of during their implementation.
As per December 31, 2003, the multilateral financial institute had provided a total of US$19.357 billion in loans for 269 projects in Indonesia.
The sectors into which the ADB assiatnce had gone included social infrastructure, natural resources and agriculture, energy, financial sector, transportation and communications, industry, and the non-oil and non-gas sector.
Earlier, last week, the General Election Commission (KPU) announced five pairs of presidential and vice-preseidntial candidates it considered eligible to to contest the July 5 presidential race.
The five pairs are Wiranto-Salahuddin Wahid, Megawati-Soekarnoputri-Hasyim Muzadi, Amien Rais-Siswono Yudohusodo, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla, and Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar.
The duo of Abdurrahman "Gus Dur' Wahid-Marwah Daud Ibrahim was not on list for failure to meet certain KPU requirements.

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30. RI'S INCOME FROM SHRIMP EXPORTS UNAFFECETD BY US DOLLAR'S APPRECIATION.

The appreciation of the US dollar against the rupiah will not have any short-term effect on Indonesia's earnings from shrimp exports because the world market is now in a condition of oversupply, a local exporter said.
"The world market's need for shripms is recorded at 800,000 tons while supply stands at one million tons, so supply in the world market is in a sluggish condition," head of the South Sulawesi-chapter of the Indonesianh Cold Storage Association (ASCI), Adriadi, said. "However, the local market's demand for the commodity is quite encouraging," he said without elaborating.
According to Adriadi, who is director of shrimp expoting company PT. Sittomas Muliasakti, in January to April 2004, the United States as the biggest shrimp importer in the world, had imported shrimps on a large scale. Therefore, the US now had an abundance of the commodity.
"This condition has caused the commodity to be marketed in Japan while Japan now is in a condition of oversupply of the commodity," he said adding that the price of the commodity in the world market stood at US$10.6 per kg or down sharply from US$12.7 per kilogram (30 heads) previously.
The oversupply of the commodity in the world market had plunged Indonesia's shrimp exports into a sluggish condition, he said. Indonesia usually exports about 16,000 tons of shrimp per year but the figure had now sharply decreased, he added.
But Adriadi expressed optimism that in the long term, the appreciation of the US dollar against the rupiah would benefit Indonesian exporters and shrimp breeders as in August 2004, US imports of the commodity were exepcted to increase on the depletion of US stocks.
Meanwhile, some of the world's major shrimp-producing countries like India, Pakistan and Vietnam would end their harvests at the end of July and this would open the opporunity to Indonesian exporters to supply foreign market demand.
"Indonesian shrimp exporters, particularly those in the provinces, tend to keep their stocks while waiting for world market conditions to improve," he added.

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