Mega asks Rini to stop sugar imports<\/p>\n
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri said on Monday that she had
\ninstructed Minister of Trade and Industry Rini Soewandi to take
\naction to stop sugar imports in a bid to protect local sugarcane
\nfarmers.<\/p>\n
She was quoted by Antara as saying that the import of sugar
\ninto the country had become excessive.<\/p>\n
"I once asked Ibu Rini to try and stop sugar imports, but
\nthere were complaints that we might suffer a shortage of the
\ncommodity," she said during the opening ceremony for a national
\nconvention on standardization.<\/p>\n
She did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
Today, the country's total sugar output is 1.7 million tons
\nper year, compared with domestic consumption of about 3.3 million
\ntons. To make up for the shortfall, the country imports sugar.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is the world's second-largest sugar importer.<\/p>\n
However, sugarcane farmers have long complained that imports
\nwere excessive, and that cheaper imported products were hurting
\ntheir income.<\/p>\n
They have staged demonstrations, calling on the government to
\nimpose a high import tariff on sugar to protect them from the
\nmassive inflow of cheaper, imported sugar products. The farmers
\nhave also demanded a subsidy.<\/p>\n
After raising the import tariff on white sugar to Rp 700 per
\nkilogram from the previous level of Rp 450 per kilogram, Rini
\nissued a new decree stipulating that only state-owned plantation
\ncompanies would be allowed to import sugar. Imports of the
\ncommodity will be stopped only if the price of sugar at the
\nfarmers' level falls to as low as Rp 3,100 per kilogram.<\/p>\n
Farmers have said that the new import tariff is still too low
\nand would not be effective in halting the massive inflow of
\ncheaper imported products.<\/p>\n
But Rini has argued that a very high import tariff would hurt
\nlocal consumers and manufacturers that used sugar as a raw
\nmaterial in their production processes.<\/p>",
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