Cheap fertilizer disappears

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)