Jakarta, July 17 - Indonesia's largest listed plantation company, PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, said on Thursday its crude palm oil (CPO) sales volume jumped 19.6 percent to 476,909 tonnes in the first half from a year ago.
The company, owned by Indonesia's largest automotive distributor PT Astra International Tbk, also said its average CPO selling price in the first half of 2008 rose 58.9 percent to 8,299 rupiah ($0.908) per kg.
Like many palm oil plantation companies in the region, Astra Agro is riding a boom in global palm oil due to demand from the biofuel industry and fast-growing China and India.
The strong sales volume came after Astra Agro, which has a market capitalisation of $4.4 billion, reported a 20 percent increase in its CPO production to 494,074 tonnes for the January-June period, amid strong global and domestic demand.
Astra Agro accounted for about 5 percent of Indonesia's total crude palm oil production estimated at between 17-17.2 million tonnes last year.
Analysts say Astra Agro is likely to report strong first-half financial results due to the jump in production and soaring CPO prices.
Palm oil--used in products from soaps to biofuel--is trading about 22 percent below a record high hit in early March of 4,486 ringgit ($1,390) a tonne on account of record inventory levels in Malaysia, but remains well up so far this year.
Malaysian crude palm oil futures was trading at 3,476 ringgit at 0402 GMT, or about 14 percent higher than the start of the year, as rallying crude oil has lent support to vegetable oil markets.
Indonesia has overtaken Malaysia as the world's top palm oil producer. It is expected to produce 18.4 million tonnes of CPO this year, up around 7.5 percent from 2007.
The company is aiming to boost its output by 7.5 percent this year to 990,000 tonnes on hopes of good weather, as it plans to plant oil palm on 60,000-70,000 hectares by 2009.
Earlier, Deutsche Bank raised its target price for Astra Agro to 31,500 rupiah ($3.45) a share from 30,000 rupiah previously on the back of positive outlook for crude palm oil prices.
Astra Agro's shares dropped 4.35 percent in early trade on Thursday to 24,200 rupiah, while the broader index fell 0.18 percent to 2,214.05 points.