A rise in palm oil production, higher margarine sales and one-off gains from tax cuts and foreign exchange helped Indofood Agri nearly match last year's earnings despite a slide in palm oil prices.

The plantations group's revenues tumbled by 24% to 9,040bn rupiah ($1.26bn) last year, hurt by weaker crop prices and lower sales of its cooking oil brands, which were undermined by an "intense" price war with rival products.

However, Indofood's earnings, excluding the impact of biological revaluations, fell by only 1.2% to 1,223bn rupiah ($170m) thanks to a 7% rise in palm oil production and Indonesia's temporary withdrawal of palm export taxes.

The company also booked a foreign exchange gain of 304bn rupiah, compared with a loss of 229bn rupiah a year before.

Expansion plans 

The group added that it was eyeing further gains in crop output by focusing this year on expanding both its oil palm plantations, which expanded by 5.7% to 193,600 hectares last year, and its sugar cane area, which more than doubled to 8,700 hectares.

The group added that it expected palm oil demand to remain "remain "resilient" this year, helped by economic revival and growing use in biofuels, notably in Argentina, Brazil and Europe.

Indofood Agri shares closed down 1.9% at Sing$2.11 in Singapore on Thursday.