Indonesia to Build Water Hyacinth Factory

The plan has been outlined since six months ago.

Viva News, Antique, Elly Setyo Rini, KAMIS, 14 JANUARI 2010, 17:01 WIB

(Antara/ Wahyu Putro)

VIVAnews - Indonesian entrepreneurs will shortly establish a water hyacinth processing factory in Egypt.

“It’s better for the government of Egypt to spend their money on developing a processing industry than cleaning off water hyacinth on the River Nil,” the Association of Indonesian Furniture and Handicraft Producers (Asmindo) Ambar Tjahjono said after meeting the Egypt delegations at the office of Industry Department on Thursday, January 14.

Tjahjono said the plan has been outlined since six months ago and is facilitated by the State Minister for Coop and Small and Medium Enterprises.

“Asmindo and Baraka Group from Egypt are currently working on the business agreement. Hopefully it will be done in two months,” he said.

Indonesian furniture entrepreneurs will be teaming up with Baraka Group to develop the water hyacinth processing factory in Egypt. The investment is predicted to be worth Rp 10 billion which will be split evenly by both institutions.

There have been 50 to 100 tons of water hyacinth ready to be made into furniture and handicrafts like bags, floor mats and steel. The factory will hire 400 workers which also include Indonesian labors.

However, the collaboration is still challenged by the absence of Intellectual Property Rights Recognition on designs from Indonesia. “I’ve met the President Director of Baraka Group (Mohamed Barakan) and he promised to solve this problem in two weeks,” Tjahjono said.

He also said that the water hyacinth processing will slowly be turned into home industry due to Egypt’s reputation as world tourism site.

Products made out of the plant will be marketed domestically in Egypt and exported to neighboring countries.

Translated by: Nataya Ermanti

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Industry Minister optimistic exports to Egypt to grow 20 pct

TEI falls short of expectations

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta 

The recent 23rd Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) recorded a total of US$214.17 million in transactions, a slight rise from the $208.26 million recorded at last year's event. 

But despite the increase, the figure was less than projected. 

"The bad news is we missed the target of $220 million because global demand is declining," Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said. 

"But the good news is we were still able to record growth." 

Mari said a slowdown in Indonesia's "traditional markets", such as the United States and members of the European Union, partly contributed to the shortfall. 

For example, the value of transactions with Spanish businesses sharply declined from $23.91 million in 2007 to $2.07 million. 

Orders from Australian businesses also were down dramatically, from $13.71 million to $2.24 million. 

Orders from Japanese businesses fell from $11.26 million last year to $6.49 million, while transactions from Taiwan dropped from $9.88 million to $5.2 million. 

Despite missing the target, the TEI did manage to attract buyers from new markets, Mari said. 

Orders from new players accounted for $148 million of the total, including orders from Egypt ($28.47 million), Bulgaria ($12.25 million), Saudi Arabia ($6.26 million), Sudan ($4.65 million), Nigeria ($4.33 million), Pakistan ($4.32 million), Ukraine ($4.28 million), South Africa ($3.16 million) and Brazil ($3.14 million). 

"We'll now focus on emerging markets, like China and India, as well as on new markets, such as Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Kazakhtan and Russia," Mari said. 

Indonesia is also trying to benefit from an expected drop in China's share of the international market as it is "losing its competitiveness in the manufacturing sector with the strengthening of the yuan against the U.S. dollar".

Three RI companies to set up posphate acid factory in Morocco

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Three Indonesian companies intend to invest US$500 million in the construction of a phosphate acid factory in Morocco under an investment cooperation agreement with the Middle Eastern country, Indonesia`s special envoy to the Middle East Alwi Shihab said.

Speaking to the press after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace here Friday, Shihab identified the three companies as PT Petrokimis Gresik, Medco Energi Corporation and Bosowa Group.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the three Indonesian firms` plan was expected to be signed in 2008, he said.

The investment would be made under a bilateral investment cooperation scheme whereby Indonesia would import semi-finished phosphate acid from Morocco and the latter would invest in the construction of an ammonia plant in Indonesia.

"It`s a better way to meet our need for phosphate acid than having to import the finished product while Morocco also needs ammonia," Alwi said.

Alwi who met the president to report the results of his work during the past few months and his work plans for the near future, said he was also exploring the possibility of forging the same kind of investment cooperation with Egypt.

In Saudi Arabia and Qatar there were many investment opportunities for Indonesian construction companies, he said.

Citing examples, Alwi said construction company Waskita Karya had been offered to invest in a project worth US$1.5 million in Saudi Arabia. The project would include development of a housing complex and apartments in University City.

Another Indonesian construction company, Adhi Karya, had won a contract to build apartment towers in Qatar, Alwi said.