However, FY2022 earnings increased by 64.2% y-o-y to IDR2.83 trillion as revenue and gross profit grew due to the higher CPO prices and higher sales volume of palm products during the year.
Bumitama Agri (BAL) (SGX:P8Z
) has seen a “year of two halves” for the FY2022 ended Dec 31, 2022, with the first half dominated by the price rally in palm oil and the recovery in production. The second half of the year, however, saw normalising prices and a low-cycle production anomaly due to the intensifying extreme weather conditions with the first “triple-dip” La Nina seen for three straight years from 2020 to 2022.
During the 2HFY2022, BAL reported earnings of IDR647.37 billion ($57.2 million), 47.7% lower than the IDR1.24 trillion seen in the 2HFY2021. This was due to the weakening of crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) sales prices following the export ban imposed by the Indonesian government earlier during the year. The lower earnings were also attributable to the Indonesian government’s effort to flush out the country’s overflowing stockpiles of CPO, coupled with the increase in fertiliser and fuel prices during the period.
