Indofood Agri Resources, a maker of edible oils and fats products in Indonesia, on Friday reported a 37 percent fall in third-quarter profit lower gross profit from higher fertiliser application, higher operating expenses and foreign currency fluctuations.
Attributable profit declined to 101 billion rupiah (S$10 million) in the three months ended September 30 from 159 billion rupiah a year earlier.
Gross profit declined 11 percent in the quarter due to the effects of lower selling prices of palm products, higher palm production costs arising from higher fertilizer application and lower sugar sales.
Revenue rose 5 percent to 3.72 trillion rupiah, but this growth was outpaced by higher costs, with costs rising 9.3 percent to 2.97 trillion rupiah.
Indofood Agri said it incurred higher palm production costs arising from higher fertiliser application.
As of end September 2017, IndoAgri has 298,415 hectares planted with oil palm, rubber, sugar cane, timber, cocoa and tea in Indonesia.
Shares in IndoAgri rose 1 percent to S$0.47 on the Singapore Exchange. The stock has lost about 10 percent so far this year.
