Indonesia’s state plantation holding company PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (PTPN III) expects palm oil output to stagnate next year as it replants old trees, the company chief executive said on Tuesday.

It estimates palm oil production at 2.1 million tonnes next year, compared to 2.1 million to 2.2 million tonnes of estimated output this year, said Dasuki Amsir, chief executive of PTPN III. Palm oil is the main commodity PTPN III produces.

“There are old trees that have to be replanted, so (the number of) productive plants will decline,” said Amsir.

The estimates for 2017 and 2018 are lower than its palm oil production of 2.38 million tonnes last year. The company has produced 1.9 million tonnes of palm oil during the first 10 months of this year.

In December 2016, the company forecast an increase of between 15 % to 22.5 %  this year in the output of the commodities it cultivates, such as palm, rubber and sugar cane.

PTPN III will produce 1.1 million tonnes of white sugar next year, up from 870,000 tonnes estimated for this year, said Amsir.