For the third quarter, the Group's palm oil production grew by 11.7% against last year's third quarter. This fully absorbed the production decline of the first three months of this year (-7.0%) and turned it into a 3.7% growth over the first nine months of the year.
At the end of September, in North Sumatra, Indonesia, palm fruit production in mature plantations on organic land remained in line with last year (-0.2%). However, the nine-month production of the mature plantations on mineral land again experienced a slight growth (1.8%) due to the production increase of 5.1% in the third quarter.
In South Sumatra, the fruit harvest continued to rise, with 73.4% growth for the third quarter versus the same period last year, and a cumulative increase of 51.5% for the first nine months. These rates of increase were also largely reflected in smallholders’ purchases (Plasma). The increasing contributions from both the Musi Rawas plantations and those of Dendymarker are the direct result of an increased number of harvestable hectares and increasing returns per mature hectare.
Due to the overall strong improvement in the Group's fruit production in the third quarter, by 11.5% compared with the third quarter last year, the total nine-month fruit harvest was 5.0% higher than that as on 30 September 2021.
Bananas
European market prices for bananas held up very well, with overall supply remaining below the seasonal average. From mid-July, prices began to rise steadily to reach very high levels by the end of the quarter. All production areas were affected not only by difficult weather conditions, but also, above all, by an inflationary effect on prices of basic commodities and logistics, and as a result of a USD/EUR exchange rate that disrupted the general supply of bananas on the international and European markets.
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