Cheap fertilizer disappears

BALIKPAPAN, East Kalimantan (JP): Hundreds of tons of fertilizer distributed by state-owned PT Pupuk Sriwijaya (Pusri) to local village cooperatives at subsidized prices are believed to have been smuggled to Malaysia across the common border, Antara reported.

Syamsu Alam, marketing manager of Pusri's East Kalimantan office, said that although his company had supplied 430 tons of urea and 92 tons of SP-36 fertilizer to cooperatives in the province, hundreds of farmers still complained of shortages.

Other farmers said they had to buy their fertilizer from the markets at prices far above those set by the government.

Antara said the fertilizer may have been smuggled through Tawao on the Malaysian side of the border with East Kalimantan. (emb)