Danantara: Farmers' Sugar Purchase of Rp 1.5 Trillion Not Yet Optimal

Chief Operating Officer of BPI Danantara, Dony Oskaria, stated that the injection of Rp 1.5 trillion to ID Food for purchasing farmers’ sugar has not had a significant impact. “We provided a subsidy into the market to absorb all of the community’s sugar amounting to Rp 1.5 trillion. However, it also did not provide a significant impact,” Dony said during a working meeting with DPR Commission VI on Wednesday, 8 April 2026.

In the third quarter of 2025, Danantara disbursed funds of Rp 1.5 trillion to PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia or ID Food. With those funds, ID Food was required to absorb farmers’ sugar that was not selling due to leaks of refined sugar.

Dony explained that the impact of the Rp 1.5 trillion injection was not significant because the amount of farmers’ sugar that ID Food had to absorb was very large. “Therefore, our capacity to purchase, our ability to purchase, also requires a very large amount to accommodate the community’s production output,” he said.

Previously, the Chairman of the SGN Sugar Auction Team, Sunardi Edy Sukamto, stated that no sugar traders dared to buy because at that time, refined sugar and refined crystal sugar were massively circulating in the market. At that time, there were 65,000 tonnes of farmers’ sugar stockpiled in 17 factories across 13 regions in East Java that remained unsold until 11 August 2025.

The stockpile occurred coinciding with the peak harvest period in July and August 2025. In the National Food Agency’s Projection of the Consumption Sugar Balance, white crystal sugar production in July was estimated to reach 602.2 thousand tonnes. This figure rose to 615.4 thousand tonnes in August.

Reflecting on the industry problems stemming from the seepage of refined sugar, Dony emphasised the importance of reorganising the national sugar industry. “If not, we will keep having meetings like this continuously, but the impact will never be resolved,” he said.

Moreover, the state-owned food company PT Sinergi Gula Nusantara or Sugar Co suffered from the seepage of sugar, causing losses of Rp 680 billion last year due to uncontrolled sugar imports. “Even a company like SGN had to incur losses, let alone the public. Therefore, transformation in this sugar industry must be carried out in accordance with Mr Prabowo’s instructions,” he stated.