Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung, Oct 24 (ANTARA Babel) - Sulima Energy Ltd, a British company engaged in the food industry, will purchase 25 tons of Bangka white pepper directly from farmers in Bangka Belitung.
The chief of Investment Coordinating Board, Zakaria Umarhardi stated the purchase will be coordinated by the Cooperative Society of White Pepper Indonesia (Komlapi) and Management Board Development and Marketing Pepper (BP3L).
However, the Director of Sulima Energy Ltd., Joanna Malinowska said, before they place the first purchasing order, they will first do the evaluation towards the quality of the pepper.
"We will first take the sample of the white pepper to a laboratory in Europe to evaluate the quality of the oils and microbiology," said Joanna.
If the test is positive, Sulima Energy will place their first order which will be a container loaded as much as 25 tons of white pepper.
"I believe the result will be positive, if it turns to whatever it will be, I will come back here with the feedback and tell the farmers so they can work on that to make it better," she said.
Sulima Energy is very enthusiastic with the business they will do with the Bangka white pepper farmers. They said Bangka white pepper, which is in Europe well known as "Muntok White Pepper" is very luxurious.
If everything goes well as it is planned, Sulima Energy can buy Bangka white pepper up to 25 containers.
"Of course we will buy it in stages because the business has to be done step by step, not all at once," said Joanna.
Sulima Energy Ltd. has various companies. They have soft company department that deal with trade in spices and oils. They also have a mineral department dealing with trade of gold, chrome, and cobalt.
The company need about 16 containers every three months. One container contains 25 tonnes of pepper.
Head of the Investment Coordinating Board for Bangka Belitung, Zakaria Umarhardi, hoped the visit of the British firm executives would be able to attract other foreign companies.
"We sincerely hope that eventually they will build a factory here, because this is the purpose of investment. We will serve what they need, we can offer them what they want, so they are keen to do business with us," said Zakaria.
On Tuesday, entrepreneurs engaged in mining in areas such as tin, honey producers, processing of rubber and pepper farming do a presentation in front of Sulima Director Energy Joanna Malinowska, Sulima Energy Trade Adviser Adrian Skelt and Daniel Tang as solicitor of Sulima Energy Ltd.
