[Kabar-indonesia] 19 Biz/Econ Reports: Govt May Replace Telkom Chief; Salim US$213m Sugar Deal

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

19 reports: 

- Indonesian govt may seek to replace
  Telkom president, board members 
  at Annual Meeting
- Indonesia to swap short-term debt into
    6-yr bonds
- Salim To Invest US$213M In Sugar 
  Production: Investor Daily
- Chinese investors cancel Indonesian 
  oil palm projects [incl: Sinar Mas]
- RI, China to discuss illegal shipping 
- JP Interview: UK retailer Mark & Spencer 
  (M&S) goes for price cut to reach more 
  customers 
- Indonesia's Bank Bukopin halves size of IPO
    after ABN Amro pulls out - report
- Indonesia's Ciputra Surya buys 53 pct stake in
    Win Win Realty for 140 bln rupiah
- Indonesia's PT Kabil Indonusa Estate attracts
    120 mln usd investments
- Indonesia's Summarecon seeking a bank loan
    of $33.3 mln
- Indonesia's Davomas to use bond proceeds for
    debt repayment, capacity expansion
- Stock Alert - Indonesia's Davomas lower after
    resuming trade
- Indonesia's Sinarmas Multiartha aims for
    20 pct growth
- Indonesia's Riau Andalan aims to end reliance on
   natural forests
- Indonesia to maintain shrimp imports ban until
    end 2006
- Indonesia Press: Govt Urged To Expedite
    Sugar Imports
- Indonesia's Apkasindo to test grow oil palm
    seedlings
- Indonesia Astra Agro fails to sell palm
    oil at auction
- Indonesia palm oil up on rupiah, players
    sidelined

Indonesian govt may seek to replace Telkom 
president, board members at AGM

JAKARTA, June 26 (XFN-ASIA) - The State Enterprise Ministry is looking
at replacing PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia's (Telkom) president Arwin
Rasyid and other directors at the company's AGM scheduled for June 30,
the Investor Daily reported

"The number of directors may also be increased from seven at present,
to 10," ministry secretary Muhammad Said Didu told the newspaper.

Didu did not name those who would be replaced, but the paper quoted
sources at the ministry as saying that Rasyid is one of them.

The proposed replacements follow the alleged involvement of Telkom's
human resources director John Welly and a number of Telkom staff in an
illegal voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) operation.

State Enterprises Minister Sugiharto has previously urged Telkom to
replace directors who have been implicated in an illegal VoIP
operation.

Three former Telkom staff have been arrested in conjunction with the
operation -- former director Komarudin Sastra, former network division
head Dodi Sudjani, and former VoIP business head Endi Prijanto.

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Indonesia to swap short-term debt into 6-yr bonds

JAKARTA, June 26 (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to swap
rupiah-denominated bonds maturing 2007-2009 into 6-year 
debt paper on Tuesday, according to a draft of a finance ministry 
statement seen by Reuters.

The Indonesian government has recently stepped up its efforts 
to ease the cost of refinancing its large debt, including by swapping 
its short-term debt into longer tenor paper.

"The Indonesian government is to hold an auction on June 27 to switch
the government bonds maturing 2007-2009 into FR0017 maturing in 2012,"
said the draft signed by Marwanto Harjowiryono, the chief spokesman of
the finance ministry.

The Indonesian government's last debt switch on June 1 resulted in no
winning bids from investors amid a selloff in emerging markets.

But analysts said Tuesday's debt switching auction was likely to
generate more interest as market conditions were recovering with
Indonesia's central bank giving clearer signals on interest rate cuts.

"The market condition is recovering ... the central bank is giving a
clearer signal of cutting the interest rate and I heard that investors
are coming back," said Anung Roni, an analyst from AAA Sekuritas.

The government's last successful bond swap was conducted on May 9,
when the government exchanged 2.2 trillion rupiah in shorter-term
bonds into longer tenor debt.

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Indonesia Press: Salim To Invest US$213M In Sugar Production

JAKARTA, June 26 (Dow Jones) -- Indonesia's Salim Group will
invest US$213 million in plantations and refineries to boost its 
annual sugar output to 800,000 metric tons over the next two 
years, Investor Daily reported Monday, citing Salim executive 
Franky Welirang.

The group, through its subsidiary PT Laju Perdana Indah, is developing
three sugar plantations in South Sumatra province with a total area of
86,000 hectares, according to the report.

Salim Group is also building four refineries that will bring its total
production up to 800,000 tons a year, the report said, without giving
further details.

Production is slated to come on-line in 2007 and 2008.

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Chinese investors cancel Indonesian oil palm projects

JAKARTA, June 26 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - Chinese investors 
have cancelled a plan to invest in oil palm plantation projects 
in Indonesia's Kalimantan province because suitable land is 
not available as some officials have claimed, an official said.

Investors have shown interest in building large oil palm plantations
along Kalimantan's border with Malaysia after reports that two million
hectares of land in that area were available for oil palm plantations.

Plantation Director General Ahmad Manggabarani said reports of the
mega project were not true.

Government officials including the agriculture minister has said two
million hectares of land in the frontier area will be transformed into
oil palm plantations.

However, preliminary studies found only 180,000 hectares of lands in
the entire areas in Kalimantan are suitable for oil palm plantations
and they are located in different areas.

Around 45 companies including the Sinar Mas Group, have indicated
interest in the offer to build oil palm plantations in the frontier
area.

The Sinar Mas Group, the country's largest cooking oil producer, in
partnership with China's CITIC Group already announced plan to invest
US$500 million.

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The Jakarta Post
June 26, 2006

RI, China to discuss illegal shipping 

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia will raise the issue of illegal transshipment during a bilateral 
meeting with the Chinese government in August.

Industry Minister Fahmi Idris said Friday that he had conveyed the 
government's concerns and industry's complaints on the alleged increase in the illegal 
transshipment of Chinese goods through Indonesia to Chinese trade ministry 
officials during his recent visit to China. 

"They've supported our efforts to deal with illegal transshipment and we will 
discuss that in our bilateral meeting in Bali in August," he said. 

A growing number of Chinese textile companies have reportedly resorted to 
shipping goods illegally through other countries to get them to the United States 
and Europe following the reintroduction of export quotas on the country's 
textile industry in early 2004. 

Southeast Asian countries, particularly Indonesia, are among the most popular 
routes for illegal Chinese textile exports on their way to Europe and the 
United States. 

Fahmi said that the growing illegal transshipment from China had contributed 
to the sharp increase in illegal imports to Indonesia. 

He said the value of the smuggled goods reached $5.9 billion in 2005, 79 
percent higher than the previous year's $3.3 billion, partly due to the increase 
in transshipment. 

Fahmi said the government's losses in tax and duties due to illegal imports 
rose about 95 percent to US$970.9 million in 2005, from $498 million in the 
previous year. 

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The Jakarta Post
June 26, 2006

M&S goes for price cut to reach more customers 

In line with the growing number of malls in big cities, British retail firm 
Mark & Spencer (M&S) is expanding its operation by opening new outlets. 

With the opening of the newly-finished Senayan City in South Jakarta, M&S is 
also making its mark there. With an area of 960 meters, it's the largest M&S 
store in Indonesia. 

This store adds to the existing 13 M&S has in major cities in Indonesia -- 
six in Jakarta, two each in Denpasar and Medan and one each in Bandung and 
Surabaya. 

Worldwide, M&S has 590 stores, with 399 in the United Kingdom and 191 
franchised in 30 other countries, including Indonesia. It had annual sales to the 
tune of a mind-boggling 8.5 billion pounds last year, of which 523 million pounds 
came from its international operations. 

M&S is just one of a number of British outlets that have entered the 
Indonesian market, such as Next and Debenhams. 

Interestingly, all three retail names, which compete against each other in 
the United Kingdom, have been brought to Indonesia by publicly-listed PT Mitra 
Adiperkasa (MAP). 

To have a better view of the future of M&S in Indonesia and its competition 
with British and other retail outlets here, The Jakarta Post's Riyadi Suparno 
interviewed the head of its international retail division, Simeon Piasecki, in 
Jakarta last week. 

Question: How do you see the future of your business here in relation to your 
worldwide operations? 

Answer: The important thing for us is that our business in the UK is 
currently very successful and last year we posted a 35 percent increase in profit, the 
brand is getting stronger and stronger in the UK. But not just in our home 
market, we are also successful around the world, in markets like Indonesia. 
Having fashionable, affordable and good quality products is a key priority for us 
wherever we trade. 

Q: Being fashionable and having good quality is one thing, but affordability 
is another. How do you address affordability for Indonesia? 

A: As our business is getting bigger here, we are reducing our prices to make 
it more affordable to more people. This autumn our selling prices will be 
reduced by 20 percent across the board, across the product lines. Really, we want 
to make our products more affordable for more people, so it's about trying to 
get ourselves into a position where more people can be interested in and have 
access to the brand. 

Q: Is price reduction a specific strategy for Indonesia or your global 
policy? 

A: Our products in the UK have been reducing their prices. And part of the 
success in the UK has been the right balance in prices, those in the entry price 
point, then middle price and high price. Now almost a third of our products 
are in our entry price point. We call it the opening price. You have three 
pairs of jeans, one pair in the entry price, one in the middle price and one in 
the high price. So, this strategy has been successful for us in the UK, and we 
replicate that here. 

Q: How do you see the competition in your market segment here in Indonesia? 

A: It's a fast growing market here. We have seen new people, new players 
coming in, and opening up, a sign of a healthy market. It will make some of the 
malls more interesting places to go. We believe M&S has a unique brand position, 
and why we are not frightened by competition is because it is the people who 
will make the choices. 

Q: As you can see your main competitors in the UK are all entering Indonesia, 
such as Debenhams and Next. And just like you, both are under MAP. How do you 
see this in terms of your positioning in Indonesia? 

A: We all have brand positions. And our offers are different. We believe 
customers would make the choice and we are working with our partner to make M&S 
part of it, as successful as possible. We believe the product, the quality and 
the prices will make us the best. 

Q: You were here before the crisis, and then you pulled out, and reentered 
Indonesia in partnership with MAP. How do you see your future business in this 
country? 

A: We try to take the long term view rather than what's happening this week 
or this month or the current economic forecast. And our long term view for 
Indonesia is that this is a country with great potential for us, for our brand. We 
are committed to being here because we believe in a long and successful 
future for us. 

---------------------------------------------

Indonesia's Bank Bukopin halves size of IPO after ABN Amro pulls out - report

JAKARTA, June 26 (XFN-ASIA) - PT Bank Bukopin has cut the size of its
initial public offering (IPO) to 843 mln shares or 15 pct of its
enlarged capital from 2.05 bln shares or 30 pct after one of the
underwriters, ABN Amro Asia Securities, pulled out, Bisnis Indonesia
reported.

The newspaper said the indicative price is now 350 rupiah per share,
instead of 350-520 rupiah.

Bisnis quoted Heri Sunaryadi, a director of underwriter PT Bahana
Securities, as saying that the IPO proceeds target will be lowered to
295.05 bln rupiah from 717.20 bln-1.06 trln rupiah.

He said the decision to slash the IPO size was due to limited time for
preparation left by the unexpected withdrawal of ABN Amro Asia
Securities last Thursday.

ABN Amro had the task of offering Bukopin shares to overseas investors.

He said ABN Amro's decision left Bahana and another co-underwriter,
Indo Premier, with two days to sell the bank's shares to overseas
investors.

"We are still lucky that we still received orders from a number of
investors from Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries," Sunaryadi
said.

He said that 15 pct of the shares ordered were ordered by individual
and institutional investors overseas.

Bisnis quoted Bahana president Ito Warsito as saying that ABN Amro had
been given the job of offering 1.1 bln shares or 55 pct of the
original total.

Separately, Investor Daily quoted Warsito as saying that ABN Amro
could not be sued because it did not sign an agreement to underwrite
the offer in a full-commitment arrangement.

The book building was completed on June 16 and the offer period is
scheduled for July 3-5, followed by listing on the stock exchange here
on July 10.

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Indonesia's Ciputra Surya buys 53 pct stake in Win Win Realty for 140 bln 
rupiah

JAKARTA, June 26 (XFN-ASIA) - Property developer PT Ciputra Surya has
acquired a controlling 53 pct stake in PT Win Win Realty for 140 bln
rupiah, Ciputra investor relations head Nanik Santoso said.

"Win Win Realty issued new shares to Ciputra Surya equivalent to a 53
pct stake. That caused a dilution to existing shareholders'
ownership," she told XFN-Asia.

In a separate statement, Ciputra Surya president Harun Hajadi said the
acquisition will allow the company to develop a "mixed-use" property
project on Win Realty's 7.7-hectare land bank in west Surabaya as part
of its expansion strategy.

He said the land is one the best available commercial areas in
Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, on which the company
plans to build a lifestyle shopping center to be integrated with an
office building, apartment tower, a hotel and a hospital.

Construction of the first phase of a 120,000 sqm shopping and
recreation center is scheduled for mid 2007, Hajadi said.

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Indonesia's PT Kabil Indonusa Estate attracts 120 mln usd investments

SINGAPORE, June 26 (XFN-ASIA) - Industrial estate PT Kabil Indonusa
Estates (KIE) said it has attracted 120 mln usd worth of investments
from three major corporations in Singapore and Canada.

KIE has 400 hectares of land on the north-eastern part of Batam island
and is jointly owned by PT Citramas Indah Realindo and Nederlandse
Financierings Maatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden NV of Netherlands.

The new investments include the 25 mln usd Kabil Offshore Port
developed by PT Semblog Citra Nusa, a joint venture between PT Citra
Tubindo Tbk and Singapore Offshore Petroleum Services, a unit of
SembCorp Logistics Ltd; and the 50 mln usd 30-hectare fabrication yard
of PT SMOE Indonesia, a unit of Singapore-based SMOE Pte Ltd, an
engineering, procurement and construction contractors for the offshore
oil and gas industry.

A recently signed memorandum of agreement between Singapore and
Indonesia designates Batam as a special economic zone (SEZ).

Another major investment is the 45 mln usd coating plant of PT Bredero
Shaw Indonesia, a division of ShawCor, which develops and manufactures
pipe coating solutions for the oil, gas and water pipeline industries.

"The SEZ initiative paves the way for KIE to attract even more oil and
gas related companies to congregate and operate from our industrial
park, hence bringing us closer to our vision to develop KIE into a
premier oil and gas industry hub for this region," KIE president
director Kris Taenar Wiluan said in a statement.

Combined with the investments of 18 companies currently operating in
KIE, investments in the industrial estate would total 300 mln usd, it
said.

"Together these businesses generate annual revenues of about 500 mln
usd per annum," it said in a statement.

Meanwhile, on the education front, a memorandum of understanding was
signed between Yayasan and National University of Singapore (NUS) to
develop an outreach and admissions program for qualified students from
the Kepri province of Indonesia while SSH Corp Ltd, a listed company
in Singapore, will establish a training school to train welders for
oil and gas fabrication jobs.

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Indonesia's Summarecon seeking a bank loan of $33.3 mln

JAKARTA, June 26 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - Publicly listed property
company PT Summarecon Agung (JSX:SMRA) is seeking a loan of Rp300
billion (US$33.3 million) from two local banks after deciding to delay
issuing bond valued at Rp300 billion.

The loan, which is to be used to finance a number of property projects
is expected to be disbursed this year, its President Johanes Mardjuki
said after a shareholders meeting last weekend.

Johannes said his company hopes that the banks, which he refused to
name, will agree to offer a competitive interest rate of 15 per
cent-16 per cent a year.

He said his company decided to delay issuing bond as the bond coupon
rate is no longer competitive at present.

Among its property projects are Summarecon Kelapa Gading in Jakarta,
Summarecon Serpong in Banten, and The Summit apartment in Jakarta.

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Indonesia's Davomas to use bond proceeds 
for debt repayment, capacity expansion

JAKARTA, June 26 (XFN-ASIA) - PT Davomas Abadi said it will use the
proceeds of its 125 mln usd guaranteed senior secured notes issued
last month to repay its dollar-denominated debts and to expand
production capacity, corporate secretary Rully Junaidi said.

"We will use 75 mln usd of the proceeds to repay the entire amount of
our old dollar-denominated debts, while the remaining 50 mln will be
used to expand our production capacity," Junaidi told XFN-Asia.

Davomas is the country's leading cocoa powder and butter producer.

Junaidi said the company will buy two production machines that will
boost its capacity to 140,000 tons per annum from 100,000 tons at
present.

"We expect our sales to increase in line with the expansion of our
production capacity," Junaidi said.

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Stock Alert - Indonesia's Davomas lower after resuming trade

JAKARTA, June 26 (XFN-ASIA) - JAKARTA (XFN-ASIA) - Cocoa powder and
butter producer PT Davomas Abadi was lower after resuming trade today,
dealers said.

Davomas was down 20 rupiah or 3.77 pct at 510.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) said in a statement that it has
lifted the trading suspension on the stock but gave no further
details.

JSX suspended the stock from trading last Wednesday due to a
significant price rally in Davomas shares.

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Indonesia's Sinarmas Multiartha aims for 20 pct growth

JAKARTA, June 26 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - Investment holding company PT
Sinarmas Multiartha said it targets to chalk up a 20 per cent growth
in business this year compared with last year.

The target is not easy with the slump still hitting the automotive
industry, its President Edward H. Hadidjaja said.

The company has subsidiaries operating mainly in financing business
offering credits for the purchases of automotive product and in
insurance business.

It also has subsidiaries in operating information technology service.

"We are not very optimistic this year. We would be pleased if we could
chalk up a 20 per cent growth," Hadidjaja said.

He said earning is forecast to decline from last year, adding, so far
this year earning from financing business and insurance declined
around 35 per cent.

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Indonesia's Riau Andalan aims to end reliance on natural forests

JAKARTA, June 26 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - Pulp and paper maker PT Riau
Andalan Pulp & Paper said it is set to plant acacia mangium trees over
60,000 hectares of land every year to guarantee supply of tree raw
material for its pulp and paper factory.

Company President Irsan Syarief said his company wants to end its
dependence on natural forests.

In 2009, the entire tree raw material requirement of PT Riau Andalan
could be supplied from the acacia plantation forests built by the
company, Syarief said.

He said his company has an annual production capacity of 2 million
tons of wood pulp for which it needs 9 million cubic meters of tree
raw material a year.

He said the company will need 350,000 hectares of plantation forest to
guarantee supply of raw materials .

Currently the company has 300,000 hectares of land available but tree
planting so covers only 55 per cent of this land.

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Indonesia to maintain shrimp imports ban until end 2006

JAKARTA, June 26 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The government has decided to
maintain the ban on shrimp imports until the end of this year.

Trade Minister Mari E. Pangestu said last weekend the ban is continued
as the investigation of shrimp disease is not yet completed.

The ban was issued a year ago to prevent the import of shrimps
contaminated by disease into the country.

Mari said the government has also decided to reduce the number of
trade offices in the region authorized to issue certificate of origin
for shrimps to only 14 offices to reduce the possibility of
transshipment.

The United States earlier threatened to impose anti-dumping import
duty on Indonesian shrimps after accusing Indonesian suppliers of
transshipping shrimps from China to be exported to that country.

The United States has slapped anti-dumping import duty on shrimps from
a number of major supplying countries including China.

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Indonesia Press: Govt Urged To Expedite Sugar Imports

JAKARTA, June 26 (Dow Jones)--Indonesian sugar producers have urged
the government to expedite sugar imports this year, as shortfalls in
fertilizer supply are expected to hurt domestic production, Bisnis
Indonesia reported Monday, citing industry figures.

Fertilizer supply shortfalls could also hamper the industry's target
of self-sufficiency by 2009, the associated corporate secretary of
state agricultural concern PT Perkebunana Nusantara Adig Suwandi was
quoted as saying, without giving further details.

The report didn't say when the government is likely to begin importing sugar.

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Indonesia's Apkasindo to test grow oil palm seedlings

JAKARTA, June 26 (Asia Pulse/Antara) - The association of oil palm
farmers (Apkasindo) said it will start an experiment to grow oil palm
seedlings over 1,500 hectares of lands in Kalimantan and North
Sumatra.

Apkasindo secretary general Asmar Arsjad said 1,000 hectares of the
test plantations will be built in North Sumatra and 500 hectares in
Kalimantan.

The country still have difficulty in supplying high yield variety of
oil palm seedlings like supergene for oil palm plantations.

Malaysia uses supergene variety, which could turn out 52.5 tons of
fresh fruit bunches per hectare a year, Asmar said.

Asmar said the association has submitted the proposal to the
agriculture ministry to start the experiment, but no answer yet
received from the ministry.

He said the experiment is necessary as in the next three years
replanting will be needed over 1.3 million hectares of 1.8 million
hectares of smallholder oil palm plantations.

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Indonesia Astra Agro fails to sell palm oil at auction

JAKARTA, June 26 (Reuters) - Indonesia's biggest listed plantation
firm, PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk , failed to sell 6,500 tonnes of palm
oil products at a tender on Monday due to low bids.

Astra Agro offered 2,000 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) at 3,800
rupiah ($0.404) per kg and 1,000 tonnes of palm kernel oil at $470 a
tonne on a free on board basis Kumai port in Central Kalimantan
province on the Indonesian side of Borneo island.

The company offered 1,500 tonnes of high-grade Super CPO at 3,825
rupiah a kg ex-factory Riau and another 2,000 tonnes at 3,725 rupiah
ex-factory Jambi.

Astra Agro is a subsidiary of the country's largest automotive
distributor, PT Astra International Tbk .

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Indonesia palm oil up on rupiah, players sidelined

JAKARTA, June 26 (Reuters) - Indonesian palm oil markets were
lacklustre on Monday with players hugging the sidelines waiting for
clearer price direction, traders said.

A weakening rupiah against the U.S. dollar supported prices, they added.

"Players are reluctant to take positions today. They want to see palm
oil prices at Rotterdam first. Tomorrow, trading will be more active,"
a trader in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province and
Indonesia's key port for palm oil exports, said.

Rotterdam is Europe's main market for vegetable oils.

A weakening rupiah against the dollar, however, helped push palm oil
prices up. The local currency was quoted at 9,400 rupiah per dollar,
from 9,395.

CPO prices at the state marketing centre's auction were quoted at
3,931 rupiah ($0.418) a kg, up from 3,922 rupiah a kg on Friday.

There was no local auction in Medan.

RBD palm olein in Jakarta was quoted at around 4,275 rupiah a kg,
higher than 4,265 rupiah a kg on Friday.

Gains in Malaysia crude palm oil futures at midday also helped support
prices, traders said.

But higher prices deterred buyers from taking positions as they were
waiting for prices to fall, said a trader in Jakarta, adding 50 tonnes
of RBD palm olein was traded.

Exports remained uninspiring without immediate demand from major
buyers such as China, India and Europe.

Sellers offered July shipment unchanged at $392.5 a tonne, free on
board in Belawan port in North Sumatra. Bids stood at $387.5 a tonne
with no deals reported.

Offers for August shipment were also flat at $397.5 a tonne, FOB
Belawan, and bids stood at $390 a tonne, with no trades reported.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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