Export hits fertilizer supply<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Favorable prices of urea fertilizer on the
\ninternational market have encouraged traders to export such a
\nproduct, thereby causing shortages of supplies in the domestic
\nmarket, a House of Representatives member said.<\/p>\n
Abdurachman Rangkuti, the head of the fact-finding team for
\nagricultural issues of the House's Golkar faction, told The
\nJakarta Post here Monday that the increase in the country's
\nfertilizer exports occurred not only through legal export
\nactivities but also through illegal trade.<\/p>\n
\"Our investigations...indicate that a lot of fertilizer
\ndoesn't go to the hands of farmers after it reaches the regency
\nlevel or the third level of trading chains,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Serious shortages of fertilizers have been reported by local
\nand national media as occurring nationwide over the last couple
\nof months.<\/p>\n
Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said last week
\nthat the government would import 200,000 tons of triple-
\nsuperphosphate fertilizer to counter the shortage which, he said,
\nhas been caused by an early planting season in the 1995\/1996
\nperiod.<\/p>\n
He said the fertilizer supply was now unable to accommodate
\nthe current demand.<\/p>\n
Urea fertilizer in Indonesia is produced by state-owned
\ncompanies, including PT Pupuk Sriwidjaja (Pusri), which has been
\nassigned by the government as the sole distributor to arrange
\ndistribution up to the regency level.<\/p>\n
Parties involved in the regency level are then expected to
\ndeliver fertilizer to village cooperatives and to state-owned and
\nprivate plantation firms.<\/p>\n
Rangkuti said his team has discovered no problem with the
\nfertilizer distribution by Pusri up to the regency level.<\/p>\n
\"In fact, the team was told that as of last December, Pusri's
\nfertilizer distribution was 10 percent more than what was
\noriginally planned,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The shortages of fertilizer supplies, he pointed out, took
\nplace after it reached the regency level, where it \"disappeared\"
\nand failed to reach village cooperatives and plantation firms.<\/p>\n
In Bogor, West Java, for example, 7,600 tons of urea did not
\nreach village cooperatives. Instead, private companies were seen
\nselling the commodity at escalated prices on the local market, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"There have also been indications that some of the fertilizer
\nhas been smuggled out of the country, especially through areas
\nnear the border areas, such as the Strait of Malacca,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rangkuti said the high fertilizer prices on the international
\nmarket was generated by the sharp increase in demand from rice-
\nproducing countries which, until recently, had only started to
\ndevelop. These countries include China, Cambodia and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
\"Prices on the export market can come up to Rp 600 (26 U.S.
\ncents) per kilogram, which is far higher than that on the local
\nmarket,\" Rangkuti pointed out.<\/p>\n
\"Exporters who have a low sense of nationalism will choose to
\nexport their stock rather than sell it on the local market,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Rangkuti said that anyone caught smuggling fertilizer should
\nbe severely punished for \"economic subversion\".<\/p>\n
Rangkuti dismissed charges that the lack of granular urea on
\nthe local market was caused by the government's drive to promote
\nthe use of tablet-type urea -- the use of which is still
\nunfamiliar to most rice farmers.<\/p>\n
According to media reports, farmers in many parts of the
\ncountry would grind urea tablets before scattering it in their
\nfields, as they do to granular urea, because they lacked correct
\ninformation on how to use the fertilizer.<\/p>\n
Rangkuti acknowledged that certain local administrations
\npushed their farmers to use urea tablets, but contended that not
\nmany regions had such policies. \"Urea tablets make up only 20
\npercent of the total amount of urea fertilizer used by farmers,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Rangkuti said that factories which compressed granular-type
\nurea into tablets were operated by PT Ario Seto and its factories
\nwere small-scaled, with production capacities of 1,000 tons a
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
\"Part of the factories' shares are owned by village
\ncooperatives...But in the long run, all the shares will be given
\nto the cooperatives,\" he said. (pwn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/export-hits-fertilizer-supply-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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