Bumitama Agri hits record Q3 net profit as palm oil price rallies

PALM oil producer Bumitama Agri has recorded 588.7 billion rupiah in net profit for the third quarter ended September, marking an all-time high as prices of the commodity boom globally.

The spike is due to a "pent-up increase" in the average selling price of Bumitama's crude palm oil (CPO) to at an average of 10,000 rupiah per kg, the company said in its quarterly update on Friday (Nov 12).

The average selling price is 27 per cent higher than in the year-ago period, while sale volume grew 13 per cent. This lifted Q3 revenue from the key product 43 per cent to 2,679.8 billion rupiah.

Overall, Bumitama's revenue for the first 9 months of 2021 hit 8,496.8 billion rupiah, up 40 per cent from the previous year. Besides the CPO rally, there was also a slowdown in fertiliser application amid rainfall in the last 2 months of Q3. Net profit for the 9M period is up 70 per cent to 1,072.8 billion rupiah.

Looking ahead, Bumitama is optimistic to to meet its internal growth guidance for fresh fruit bunches (FFB), which could set a new record for the year's output. FFB harvest from both nucleus and plasma estates reached 2.7 million tonnes in the 9M period, 79 per cent of the previous record high output in 2018.

Bumitama's management is also bullish on CPO prices remaining high. "Several industry experts have voiced that the price at current level should sustain, as tightness in global inventory is anticipated to persist due to ongoing supply disruptions as well as post-pandemic demand recovery," the company said in its update.

Shares of Bumitama closed flat at S$0.555 on Friday.