Indonesia to import tons of soybean

Indonesia to import tons of soybean

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will import about 500,000 tons of
soybean from Thailand and the United States this year to meet
domestic demand, a senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture
said yesterday.

Director General of Food Crops and Horticulture Chairil Anwar
Rasahan said in Bandar Lampung that imports this year would be
less than last year's due to an increase in the country's soybean
production.

He added that the increase was due to intensive efforts by the
ministry and other parties to boost soybean production.

"Our soybean production is expected to reach 1.8 million tons
this year while our consumption is a staggering 2.3 million tons.
So we need to import at least 500,000 tons this year," he told
Antara news agency after attending an initial soybean planting
season in several resettlement areas in Lampung.

Chairil said that last year Indonesia imported about 700,000
tons of soybean from Thailand and the United States. The
country's soybean production last year reached 1.4 million tons
while demand stood at 2.1 million tons.

He said the ministry had cooperated with the Ministry of
Transmigration and Resettlement of Forest Nomads in developing
soybean plantations in resettlement areas.

The ministry has also introduced several methods in farming
soybeans, including using biological fertilizers which reduce
spending on chemical fertilizers such as urea and phosphate
fertilizers but can increase soybean production.

"Basically, the soaring price of soybean caused by the plunge
in the rupiah against the U.S. dollar is a good opportunity to
attract farmers to plant soybean," he said. (gis)