Danantara COO: Sugar Imports Uncontrolled, Reveals Strategy for Self-Sufficiency

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Danantara, Dony Oskaria, is pushing for the consolidation of the sugar business through the merger of state-owned enterprises. Currently, he said, there are two main entities in the sugar sector, namely Sugar Co under PT Sinergi Gula Nusantara (SGN) and sugar factories under ID Food.

He conveyed this during a working meeting with the government and Commission VI of the DPR RI in Jakarta on Wednesday (8/4/2026). This consolidation, he continued, aligns with the state-owned enterprise transformation, starting from liquidating companies deemed no longer viable, divestments to focus on core businesses, consolidation of similar businesses, and restructuring.

Through the merger, all of ID Food’s sugar businesses will be combined into SGN to form a more focused and integrated manufacturing entity. Meanwhile, ID Food will be directed to focus on trading business.

“In line with that process, we want to carry out consolidation by merging ID Food into SGN. The aim is for SGN to focus on becoming an agriculture manufacturing company for sugar and other crops,” he explained.

“ID Food will focus its business on becoming a trading company. So this is deliberately done so that they focus on their respective core businesses,” said Dony.

With this consolidation, the government targets the formation of a single sugar holding that controls the majority of the national market share. This step also aims to clarify the business focus of each entity to make them more effective in carrying out their roles in the industry.

“Thus, we will have a single sugar factory holding that controls 60 percent of the total market share in Indonesia,” he stated.

When met after the meeting, Dony added that the losses occurred in the previous year, namely 2025, and serve as a strong signal for the need for transformation in the sugar industry. He assessed that without improvements, the pressure would not only be felt by large companies but also by farmers.

“Last year. But don’t look at that, meaning we see that we must look at the angle that we need to carry out transformation and change in our sugar industry,” explained Dony.

He also assured that the merger process would be completed soon as part of the restructuring of state-owned enterprises in the sugar sector.

“Next month it must be finished,” he said.

In addition, all sugar companies owned by ID Food will be integrated into SGN, while the trading function will continue to be carried out by ID Food.

“We will take over all of ID Food’s sugar companies and unite them into SGN,” he stated.

Pressure from Sugar Imports

In that opportunity, Dony highlighted sugar imports and the government’s steps to realise sugar self-sufficiency. For that, he added, there needs to be seriousness in resolving existing issues, namely the leakage of refined sugar into consumer markets.

“If this continues, it will be difficult for our sugar industry to develop due to leakages of refined sugar into the market. I hope that in line with what President Prabowo expects, this time we are truly serious about rearranging our sugar industry. If not, we will keep having meetings like this, but the impact will never be resolved,” he said.

He revealed that the red-plate sugar company, Sugar Co, recorded losses of up to Rp680 billion. These losses were said to be due to price pressures triggered by the entry of imported refined sugar into the consumer sugar market.

“This year, Sugar Co booked a loss of Rp680 billion due to prices that were indeed not good enough, due to uncontrolled sugar imports,” said Dony.

He explained that this condition is inseparable from the leakage of refined sugar entering the consumer sugar market, thus pressuring domestic sugar prices and making the industry difficult to develop. According to him, if this problem continues, the national sugar industry will continue to be pressured and difficult to grow.

Dony also mentioned previous government interventions, including absorbing public sugar through subsidies. However, these efforts were deemed not to have a significant impact on market improvements.

“I have discussed with Mr Agriculture Minister (Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman) many times; actually, we carried out subsidies into the market to absorb all sugar from the public amounting to Rp1.5 trillion. But that also did not give a significant impact,” he said.

He emphasised that this problem cannot be solved just through meetings, but requires real improvements in industry governance.

“Actually, our efforts with Mr Agriculture Minister to make this sugar industry truly self-sufficient and also provide benefits to our farmers, supported by strong regulations. If not, it will be difficult for us to face sugar prices due to the leakage of refined sugar to the public,” he stressed.

“Therefore, we in the industry really hope that this meeting produces something concrete regarding the governance of our sugar industry going forward. Because Mr President really hopes that sugar can achieve self-sufficiency,” he said.

With that, continued Dony, sugarcane farmers can enjoy the results of their farming. Not just planting and then incurring losses due to unsuitable prices.