Jakarta. Palm oil producer Astra Agro Lestari posted Rp 1.73 trillion in net profit for 2022, a 12.4 percent decline from the Rp 1.97 trillion logged in the previous year.

Astra Agro Lestari, also known by its ticker symbol AALI, witnessed a 10.3 percent drop in net revenue from Rp 24.32 trillion in 2021 to Rp 21.83 trillion in 2022.

The company attributed the decline to the shrinking sales volume of its crude palm oil (CPO) and derivatives, which fell 23.3 percent and 21.4 percent, respectively.

"Due to the shrinking net revenue, coupled with the 37.3-percent increase in selling expenses, our operating profit fell 31.2 percent from Rp 3.43 trillion in 2021 to Rp 2.36 trillion in 2022. And so, our net profit went down by 12.4 percent,"  Astra Agro Lestari director Mario C Surung Gultom said in a virtual public expose on Monday.

Last year, AALI sold 1.49 million tons of CPO and derivatives. According to the company’s financial report, CPO and its derivatives accounted for 89.9 percent of the company’s sales composition in 2022. The report also showed AALI’s average price of CPO stood at Rp 12,948 per kilogram throughout the year.

The palm oil giant witnessed its fresh fruit bunches production in 2022 amounting to 4.27 million tons in 2022. Astra Agro Lestari produced 1.3 million tons of CPO, and 282,000 kernels last year.

In 2023, the company will earmark Rp 1.4 trillion for capital expenditure (capex), of between Rp 500 billion and Rp 600 billion will go to upkeep and replantation programs.

According to Astra Agro Lestari president director Santosa, the company’s production for Q1-2023 is forecast to be not as high as what they saw in Q3-Q4 2022, during which they enjoyed peak crop season. 

“The first quarter tends to be a low crop season. However, production of the nucleus plantations is likely to be better in the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period last year,” Santosa said, although he refused to disclose the exact figures.

“And if we talk about sales, Astra Agro is an opportunist. So we do not set a specific target for the export or domestic market. It all depends on the price. Even though we have a palm oil export quota, our team will always keep an eye [on the market]. So we can export our products when prices in the export markets are high," Santosa added.