Feed makers prefer imported corn
Feed makers prefer imported corn
JAKARTA (JP): Feed producers prefer imported corn because of
its good quality and the precise delivery time and not its lower
price, an official said yesterday.
Secretary for the extension services of the ministry of
agriculture, Syamsudin Abbas, dismissed earlier reports that
poultry feed producers preferred imported corn because it was
cheaper than domestic corn.
"The price of domestic corn is considerably lower than
imported corn, even with all the additional costs of operation,"
Syamsudin said.
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture shows the current price
of domestic corn sold by farmers is Rp 354 (14 US cents),
slightly higher than the price of corn sold in the United States
of 11.8 US cents.
Meanwhile, feed companies pay Rp 404 per kilogram of corn,
which may be either imported or bought from the local farmers or
the village cooperatives.
Newspapers reported earlier that feed producers in West Java
no longer bought hybrid corn from domestic farmers because its
price had continued to rise since April.
Indonesia imports about one million tons of corn annually,
mainly hybrid corn to support domestic poultry food production.
Corn makes up 50 percent of poultry food and soybeans make up 15
percent.
There are currently 59 feed companies in the country, with a
total production of 4.29 million tons a year.
Syamsudin said the demands for corn from the poultry feed
industry would increase to 3.94 million tons this year, up from
3.55 million tons in 1996.
The Ministry of Agriculture expects the country's corn
production to rise to 9.32 million tons this year from 9.14 tons
in 1996. The corn yields would come from a 3.65 hectare estate.
To increase corn production the government designed a
partnership program of hybrid corn plantation which is expected
to cover 1.2 million hectares by the end of the year.
The production of hybrid corn from the partnership program
would amount to 3.18 million tons in the 1996/1997 planting
season, Syamsudin said. (das)