Govt reopens sugar imports until March

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Ministry of Trade has given permits to four companies to import up to 300,000 tons of white sugar from Dec. 7, 2004 to March 30, 2005 according to a senior official.

The ministry's director of importation Aang Kanaan Kusumah said on Wednesday that the minister issued the permits on Tuesday to state-owned plantation companies PTPN IX, PTPN X and PTPN XI, and state-owned trading and manufacturing company PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI).

The government, in 2002, limited the number of sugar importers in a bid to help protect local sugarcane farmers against the massive inflow of cheaper imported sugar products.

Last year, the four companies plus trading firm PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia (PPI) were appointed as the sugar importers. There was no comment as to why PPI was not given an import license this time around.

According to the permits, the importers can only bring sugar in end of March 2005, as domestic farmers usually harvest their cane in April and May.

Aang explained that under the new permits, the appointed importers will ship in the sugar over three time periods. The first is to import some 150,000 tons of sugar between Dec. 7 and Jan. 24. The second is to import some 100,000 tons of sugar between Dec. 7 and Feb. 15, while the third is to import 50,000 tons between Dec. 7 and March 30.

The imported sugar will enter through ports in Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Makassar and Bali, Aang said.

Late last month, the sugar council decided to increase the country's sugar import quota for next year to 500,000 tons, from 400,000 tons this year.

However, the quota was divided into two stages, where in the first stage importers may only supply up to 300,000 tons to the domestic market.

And if the domestic market somehow still runs out of sugar, the government would allow the importation of an additional 200,000 tons.

Aang said that as of December the national sugar stock stood at around 620,000 tons, which should be enough to supply the domestic market until February. The country's monthly demand is around 250,000 tons.

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Sugar import quota for 2005 (in metric tons)

1st period 2nd period 3rd period Importers 12/7 to 1/24 12/7 to 2/15 12/7 to 3/30 ---------------------------------------------------------- RNI 38,850 25,900 12,950 PTPN IX 17,400 11,600 5,800 PTPN X 45,300 30,200 15,100 PTPN XI 48,450 32,300 16,150 ---------------------------------------------------------- Total 150,000 100,000 50,000

Source: Ministry of Trade

Note: In case of supply shortage, the government will authorize an additional 200,000 tons to be imported.