Indonesia orders sugar processors to own local cane plantations
Speaking in Bandung Regency, West Java, on Wednesday, Minister Amran declared that the government will enforce strict compliance among private processing plants and refined sugar importers to boost domestic production.
“All private companies operating in the sugar industry are required to develop their own plantations. The same applies to importers. There will be no more tolerance for those who rely solely on imports without contributing to the development of domestic plantations,” Amran stated.
He noted that the requirement is grounded in existing legal frameworks, specifically Minister of Agriculture Regulation No. 98/2013 and Law No. 39/2014 on Plantations.
Under Article 43 of the Plantation Law, processing units utilizing imported raw materials are obligated to establish their own supply plantations no later than three years after starting commercial operations.
Furthermore, the 2013 ministerial regulation dictates that processing units must sustainably supply at least 20 percent of their total raw material needs from their own plantations.
“This mandatory plantation provision has been in place since 2014 through the Plantation Law. Now we are ensuring that all business actors truly implement it,” Amran added.
According to the minister, the firm stance comes as a response to years of suboptimal enforcement, which has impeded progress toward national sugar independence and left local sugarcane farmers struggling during harvest periods.
To complement the policy, the government is executing a sugarcane rejuvenation program using ratoon clearing across 100,000 hectares this year and expanding to 150,000 hectares next year to lift total yield.
Amran emphasized that these comprehensive measures align directly with instructions from President Prabowo Subianto to achieve national sugar self-sufficiency within two years, by optimizing governance and domestic productivity.
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Translator: Muhammad Harianto, Yashinta Difa