Chandra Asri Profit Rises 11-Fold as New Facility Starts Production
Jakarta. Chandra Asri Petrochemical booked more than an 11-fold increase in net income last year after the company's plant expansion came online and boosted sales.
Indonesia's largest petrochemical producer posted $300 million in net income last year from $26.3 million in 2015. Net revenue also increased 40 percent to $1.93 billion, the company said in a filing to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Monday (13/03).
The publicly listed company said its sales volumes soared 64 percent to 2.07 million metric tons last year due to the completed expansion and renovation of its naphtha cracker plant in December 2015.
The naphtha cracker plant is aimed at boosting the production of ethylene – the raw material used to make plastic – by 43 percent to 860,000 tons.
Chandra Asri produces chemicals and plastics raw materials, including ethylene, polythene and butadiene, which are used for packaging of food and beverages, electronics and cosmetic products.
To meet growing demand for petrochemical material in the domestic market, the company has been expanding its production capacity and developing plants in cooperation with other firms.
According to Aromatic and Plastic Industry Association (Inaplas) data, domestic demand for petrochemical products stands at 1.6 million metric tons per year, with the local production only able to supply half.
The company is currently expanding the capacity of its butadiene plant through subsidiary Petrokimia Butadiene Indonesia (PBI). The company expects the plant to increase its capacity to 139,198 tons per year by 2018 from 101,604 tons currently.
Chandra Asri has established a joint venture, Synthetic Rubber Indonesia, with multinational tire producer Michelin, to develop a synthetic rubber plant worth $435 million adjacent to its petrochemical complex in Cilegon, Banten. The plant is expected to start operations by next year.
The company also teamed up with Houston, Texas-based polyethylene-technology licensor Univation Technologies to develop a new polythene plant in Banten, which would have an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons of plastics.
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