Sjarifudin hails plan to scrap Bulog monopoly<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah
\nsaid yesterday he fully supported the government's plan to scrap
\nthe National Logistics Agency's (Bulog) trading monopoly in
\nseveral food commodities.<\/p>\n
He said the deregulation plan would give more benefits to
\nfarmers and force commodity producers to enhance competitiveness
\nin a free market.<\/p>\n
\"I have repeatedly asserted that the more developed our
\neconomy is, the more stable prices will be. Therefore, the plan
\nto reduce Bulog's (monopolistic) functions indicates that our
\neconomy has reached a more developed stage,\" Sjarifudin said
\nafter presenting dedication and development awards to 52
\nbusinesspeople and officials at his ministry.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff said
\nlast week the government was preparing measures to abolish
\nBulog's trading monopoly in food commodities including wheat,
\nsoybeans, garlic, onions and sugar, but not rice.<\/p>\n
Afiff said the plan was facing strong objections from several
\nministers.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said he fully backed the deregulation plan, citing
\nBulog's monopoly in sugar and cooking oil trade as among top
\npriority to be abolished.<\/p>\n
He said the abolishment of Bulog's monopoly over the
\nimportation of refined sugar would create a free market in the
\ncountry which would subsequently force sugar producers to work
\nmore efficiently.<\/p>\n
\"The country's sugar producers need to be exposed to import
\ncompetition to force them to work more efficiently,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Cooking oil<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said he had issued an order to state-owned
\nplantations to stop supplying Bulog with crude palm oil (CPO)
\nstarting this month.<\/p>\n
Bulog receives 20,000 tons of CPO monthly from state
\nplantation companies which the agency refines into cooking oil at
\nprivate mills. The cooking oil is used to stabilize market
\nprices.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said he had ordered PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV and
\nPT Agrintara to supply Bulog with cooking oil equivalent to
\n20,000 tons of CPO monthly, starting this month, for its market
\noperations.<\/p>\n
PT Perkebunan Nusantara IV -- the country's single largest CPO
\nproducer -- has a CPO refining plant in Belawan, North Sumatra.<\/p>\n
PT Agrintara, which is owned jointly by all state plantation
\ncompanies, operates a palm oil refining, fractionation and
\noleochemical plant in Batam with a daily capacity of 1,000 CPO.<\/p>\n
\"We think it is more effective to supply Bulog with cooking
\noil instead of CPO which has yet to be refined at private mills,\"
\nSjarifudin said.<\/p>\n
Agrintara's current production is adequate to stabilize the
\nprice of cooking oil in the country.<\/p>\n
Agricultural analysts said yesterday Sjarifudin's move would
\nmake Bulog's business partners, which for years had enjoyed the
\nmonopoly of processing Bulog's CPO, lose another business
\nopportunity. (jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sjarifudin-hails-plan-to-scrap-bulog-monopoly-1447893297",
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