Among the challenges faced
by the sugar industry in Indonesia was efficiency. Today per kg production cost
of sugar in Indonesia was higher than that in other countries. To meet such
objectives PTPN XI enhanced efficiency by way of automatization in sugar mills.
Doly Pulungan, Director of PTPN XI told BuisnessNews.
So far sugar mills had been using energy excessively at
PTPN XI this was overcome by building broilers with pressures of 48 bars
against the previous 20 bars. Thereby there would be over supply of energy
which could be sold to PLN. Besides, electricity cost could be minimized
because it was self produced.
The fund was taken form State Capital amounting to Rp.400
billion, today Djatiroto Sugar Mills produced 7,500 TCD and 2017 to be
increased to 8.500 TCD and in 2019 to become 20.000 TCD. This was most
important because the smaller the capacity the more inefficient it would be.
Djatiroto Sugar Mills as supported by 12,000 ha of land
producing 110 tons of sugar per Ha. The land was not wide enough for such big
capacity so the biggest supply was still from farmers. Farmer’s sugarcane
productivity was 80 tons/ha and must be increased to 100 tons/ha.
Besides PTPN XI had injection of another Rp.250 billion
for increasing capacity of PG Asembagus which could produce premium sugar. The
present capacity was 2,400 TCD to be increased to 4,500 TCD in 2017 and to
become 6,000 TCD in 2019. The land possessed was 2,000 ha so sugarcane supply were
mostly from farmer’s land covering 4,000 ha.
In the first year the cost was Rp.650 billion from PNM
and Rp.50 billion from internal cashbox. Total fund needed in 5 years was Rp.3,2
trillion. Each year PTPN would propose PNM while the rest would be obtained
from Bank Syariah was more profitable compared to conventional banks.
All the effort was done for preparations to anticipate AEC.
Indonesia’s main competitor in sugar business was Thailand, therefore
production cost must be downsized to at least the same level as Thailand. Today
production cost of sugar in Indonesia was Rp.8,500 while in Thailand it was
only Rp.5,000/kg.
Besides Asem Bagus and Djatiroto 5 other sugar mills
belonging to PTPN XI would also be automated. “The key to success is technology,
without technology we would be outsmarted. In India in sugar mills of 5,000 TCD
the number of workers was 100 to 200 people. In Indonesia in sugar mills of
1,000 TCD the number of workers was 700 – 800 workers.
In accordance with the program of the provincial
Government of East Java that all efficiency programs in sugar mills must not
cause unemployment, the unemployed workers would be employed as machine
operators.
With new machines it would be possible to produce ethanol
for fuel. Fuel cost which had been Rp.65 billion could be reduced to Rp.65
billion or even zero Rupiah.
In sugar business the margin was thin because the market
tend to be oligopolic where buyers dominated the market and producers.
Therefore the focus was not only on sugar but also on other products like
animal feed from sugarcane pulp with capacity of 150 ton month and bio ethanol
with fuel grade at the capacity of 150 km/day.
According to Production Director Budi Ari Prabowo beside
automation, improvement was also executed on seeds to yield Premium plant. PTPN
XI collaborated with the Indonesian Sugar Research Center to increase farmers’
productivity from the present 63,000 tons of sugarcane/ha to at least 80 tons
sugarcane/ha.
Operations on farm was by space planning of land. Farmers
land was consolidated in one expense of at least 5 ha. The main obstacle was
that farmers were reluctant to combine in groups, and yet in Thailand and
Australia, farmers joined in groups and they were successful.
Sugar production of PTPN XI was to be increased from 400,000
tons to 500,000 tons, the quality was also increased not just to supply
household needs but also for F&B industry. (SS)
Business News - October 2, 2015
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