|
(Continued from page 4)
back
to page 1 months of this year from US$8.22 billion in the same period last year. Government data showed that implementation of domestic projects rose slightly to Rp24.03 trillion (US$2.4 billion) from Rp20 trillion. Yus'an, an executive at the national Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), attributed the decline in foreign investment projects to a lack of legal certainty and poor security in the regions. The Jakarta Post October 5, 2001
US IMPOSES ANTIDUMPING DUTY ON INDONESIA'S KRAKATAU STEEL
JAKARTA -- The U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed an antidumping duty of 47.86% on exports of hot-rolled carbon steel flat products by Indonesia's PT Krakatau Steel (P.KRK), Indonesia's Industry & Trade Ministry said in a statement released Friday.
The U.S. Commerce Department also imposed a countervailing duty of 10.21% on the Indonesian state-owned steelmaker, the statement said.
U.S. GRANTS INDONESIA'S EXPORT PRODUCTS DUTY-FREE STATUS
The U.S. government has decided to scrap import duties on 11 Indonesian export products for a one-year period starting November. The 11 products exempted from U.S. import duties are: turpentine gum, tuna and skipjack, prepared or preserved snails, copper ores and concentrates, sorbitol, four types of plywood sheeting, rattan and palm leaf articles, and contact lenses. Last month, U.S. President George W. Bush agreed to grant Indonesia duty-free status worth US$100 million for certain export products under the so-called Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.
INDONESIA PLANS TO START RUBBER REPLANTING IN 2002
JAKARTA, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Indonesia, the world's second largest rubber producer after Thailand, will rehabilitate 100,000 hectares of rubber plantations a year for four years from 2002 to cut output and lift prices, the Agriculture Ministry said.
Director General of Plantations Agus Pakpahan said on that the plan was Indonesia's way of fulfilling a pact made in September with other top producers Thailand and Malaysia to each reduce output by four percent next year.
"Over the next four years we will rehabilitate 100,000 hectares per year...It's also because our rubber trees are ageing," Pakpahan told reporters.
Pakpahan said financing of the rehabilitation program was still being discussed. He did not elaborate.
While waiting for new trees from replanting to produce, the government planned to build more rubber-based industries, Pakpahan added.
Rubber trees need five years before they can be tapped.
"We are going to restructure our rubber industry, which currently produces only latex and block rubber, so they can process the rubber wood and make other rubber-based products," Pakpahan said.
World rubber prices are around 30-year lows.
"We expect our rubber-based industries to have grown rapidly by the time our productivity rises," he added.
MORE THAN 12,000 TEXTILE WORKERS LAID OFF
Jakarta Post 10/23/01
The Indonesian Textile Association (API) said on Monday that more than 12,000 textile workers had been laid off due to a drop n overseas demand triggered by the global economic slump.
API chairman Benny Soetrisno said that three textile companies operating in Semarang, Central Java, had recently laid off about 12,000 workers, while some 800 workers were laid off in Bandung, West Java.
He said the three companies in Semarang had closed down their factories.
Benny said the current situation was very difficult for the textile industries to survive in, and added that if no immediate action was taken, there could be more workers losing their jobs. He did not elaborate further.
"Sluggish demand from main textile buyers and the influx of new cheaper garment and textile products from China since Au (Continued on page 6)
|
|
