Govt to lower soybean import duty
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government would lower the soybean import duty to lower the domestic price of soybean, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said here, Monday.
"One concrete move that we can take is to lower the import duty from 10 percent to five or zero percent. We will calculate it later," the minister said after a talk with tofu and tempe (fermented soybean cake) producers at the Presidential Palace.
Some 3,000 tofu and tempe producers staged a rally outside the presidential palace, urging the government to stabilize soybean price which jumped almost by 100 percent in the past year.
To get their demand fulfilled, the demonstrators agreed to cease production for three days starting on Monday.
Mari said, another necessary move that can be taken is to increase domestic soybean production.
But all these moves would be discussed further in a meeting at the office of the Coordinating Minister of Economy, she added.
The minister said, the price of soybean skyrocketed from US$300 to US$600 per ton within the past seven months due to the declining production in the United States as main supplier.
The U.S has converted some of its soybean farms to corn farms to take the benefit from the higher price of corn used for biofuel products.
"This has reduced soybean supply. Our annual demand has amounted to 2 milion tons while domestic production reached only 600,000 to 800,000 tons," she said.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister, Anton Apriyantono said, in the medium term the government would seek soybean supply from soyabean producing countries other than the U.S to stabilize its price of the commodity.
But the most important move is to accelerate soybean self-sufficiency, an effort that has been made by the government by providing subsidy for soybean seeds in 2007.
However, the attempt failed to support domestic production as its price was still low.
The government would continue its subsidy for soybean seeds in 2008 and provide superior seeds which could produce 2-3 tons of soybean per hectare.(*)
"One concrete move that we can take is to lower the import duty from 10 percent to five or zero percent. We will calculate it later," the minister said after a talk with tofu and tempe (fermented soybean cake) producers at the Presidential Palace.
Some 3,000 tofu and tempe producers staged a rally outside the presidential palace, urging the government to stabilize soybean price which jumped almost by 100 percent in the past year.
To get their demand fulfilled, the demonstrators agreed to cease production for three days starting on Monday.
Mari said, another necessary move that can be taken is to increase domestic soybean production.
But all these moves would be discussed further in a meeting at the office of the Coordinating Minister of Economy, she added.
The minister said, the price of soybean skyrocketed from US$300 to US$600 per ton within the past seven months due to the declining production in the United States as main supplier.
The U.S has converted some of its soybean farms to corn farms to take the benefit from the higher price of corn used for biofuel products.
"This has reduced soybean supply. Our annual demand has amounted to 2 milion tons while domestic production reached only 600,000 to 800,000 tons," she said.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister, Anton Apriyantono said, in the medium term the government would seek soybean supply from soyabean producing countries other than the U.S to stabilize its price of the commodity.
But the most important move is to accelerate soybean self-sufficiency, an effort that has been made by the government by providing subsidy for soybean seeds in 2007.
However, the attempt failed to support domestic production as its price was still low.
The government would continue its subsidy for soybean seeds in 2008 and provide superior seeds which could produce 2-3 tons of soybean per hectare.(*)