Jakarta, April 27 (Antara) - The consumer market at home must be
protected from the influx of imported refined sugar in order to maintain
stability in sugar prices and to protect the interest of the domestic
sugarcane farmers.
Indonesia
has been importing refined sugar primarily to cater to the needs of the
food and beverage industries rather than to meet its domestic demand.
Thus, imported refined sugar may not be sold in the domestic open
market.
However, in reality, imported refined sugar still reaches the consumer
market, which is disadvantageous to the local sugar producers and
sugarcane farmers.
Although the government has issued a policy to eliminate the services
of sugar distributors, who are suspected to have leaked imported refined
sugar into the consumer market, yet imported refined sugar is still
found in the local markets, such as Banyumas and Cilacap in Central
Java, for household consumption.
Deputy Secretary General of the National Executive Council of the
Indonesian Sugarcane Farmers Association (DPN APTRI) M. Nur Khabsyin
said that his side had found refined sugar in circulation in areas such
as Banyumas and Cilacap.
Refined
sugar should be exclusively distributed to the food and beverage
industries. It is not allowed for sale to the public.
In a dialog with the local sugarcane farmers in Kudus, Central Java, on
Saturday last week, State-owned Enterprises Minister Rini M. Soemarno
urged the regional government heads to impose sanctions on traders
selling imported refined sugar in the consumer market as it would harm
the interest of the sugarcane farmers.
"Firm
actions must be taken against them to prevent the circulation of
imported refined sugar in the open market," the minister remarked during
a working visit to the Rendeng Sugar factory in Kudus, Central Java.
The government has in fact issued a policy to prevent imported refined
sugar, which is used only for the industry, from entering the market for
household consumption, Ardiansyah S. Parman, a special staff of the
trade minister, pointed out.
"Distributors
will no longer be able to supply refined sugar to reduce the
possibility of industrial sugar being supplied to the market for
household consumption," Parman stated.
With the new regulation coming into effect from January 2015, refined
sugar has to be directly supplied to the users, mainly to the food and
beverage manufacturers based on their contracts.
The regulation is expected to put an end to the illegal supply of
refined sugar to the market for household consumption.
Distributors are believed to be responsible for the illegal distribution of refined sugar in the open market.
According to Parman, in 2014, an estimated 200 thousand tons of
imported refined sugar, or 15-20 percent of supply of the refined sugar
in the country, illegally entered the open market.
Therefore,
State-owned Enterprises Minister Soemarno remarked that if sufficient
evidence is found, then sanctions should be imposed against the
masterminds behind the entry of imported refined sugar into the consumer
market.
"If violations could be proven, there should be sanctions," the minister affirmed.
Several farmers, who held a dialog with the minister, hoped that the
government will take stern measures against traders responsible for
leaking their sugar stocks into the consumer market.
They said that so far no response or sanctions have been taken by the
government regarding the presence of imported refined sugar in the
market.
"One can just import refined sugar if it is based on the local demand,
but it should not flood the markets," Riyanto, a farmer, pointed out.
Kuslan, another sugarcane farmer from Kudus, said refined sugar always
surfaced in the market when farmers harvested their products. Therefore,
he suggested that imported refined sugar should be supervised tightly,
so that it will not enter the consumer market.
The minister emphasized that she had coordinated with the Ministry of
Trade about the handling of imported refined sugar, which was solely for
the food and beverage industries.
She called on the regional government heads, who find refined sugar in
the market, to directly take action against the dealers. Such steps will
benefit the sugarcane farmers as it can prevent a fall in the prices of
sugarcane produced by farmers.
Acording to Parman of the trade ministry, the government has sought to
prevent the illegal supply of refined sugar to the open market by not
only stopping the service of distributors but also by tightening the
issuance of import licenses for raw sugar as feedstock for double
refined sugar.
The trade ministry has issued a license for the import of 672 thousand
tons of raw sugar in the first quarter and 945,643 tons in the second
quarter of this year.
Indonesia depends on the import of raw sugar to feed its refined sugar
industry to produce sugar for the food and beverage industries.
This year, the country's total requirement of household and industrial sugar is forecast to reach 2.8 million tons.
The country's production capacity of white sugar is 2.7 million tons
per year as against the consumption of 4.8-5 million tons a year.
Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman stated that Indonesia has to import refined sugar for the industry.
"What we plan to import is not white sugar or raw sugar but double-refined sugar for the industry," he clarified.
Amran pointed out that the country requires white and refined sugar to
meet the demand of industries such as the food and beverage industry.
"Imports are certainly needed, but the type of sugar to be imported is refined sugar for the industry," he added.
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(T.A014/INE/o001)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/O. Tamindael) 27-04-2015 13:14 |
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