Govt reschedules sugar imports

Govt reschedules sugar imports

JAKARTA: The Ministry of Trade has revised its white sugar
import permits, giving more time to appointed companies to ship
in the sweet commodity, a senior official said on Friday.

The ministry's director of importation, Aang Kanaan Kusumah,
said the revision moved the deadline of both the first and second
sugar shippings from Jan. 24 and Feb. 15, to Feb. 28. Meanwhile,
the third deadline remains as March 30.

"Suppliers have said that it would be very hard for them to
meet the initial deadline," Aang said.

On Dec. 7, the government reopened sugar importation, giving
four state-owned companies permits to import up to 300,000 tons
of sugar. The first and second shippings totaled 250,000 tons.

The four firms are plantation companies PTPN IX, PTPN X and
PTPN XI and trading and manufacturing company PT Rajawali
Nusantara Indonesia (RNI). -- JP