JAKARTA, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Indonesia state plantation holding PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (PTPN III) said on Monday it expects between a 15 percent to 22.5 percent increase next year in the output of the commodities it cultivates, such as palm, rubber and sugar cane. For 2016, PTPN III estimates it will produce 2.9 million tonnes of palm oil, 172,191 tonnes of rubber, and 944,546 tonnes of white sugar. Drought from the El Nino weather pattern in 2016 and 2015 will have no lingering impact in 2017, its top executive said.
“If there’s no El Nino impact, production can increase since the plants still have potential,” Elia Massa Manik, president director of PTPN III, told reporters. Earlier, the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute said it expects palm oil production next year to rise by 6.6 percent, after falling by 2.3 percent this year.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
