Indonesia to rely on sugar imports until 2000

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will continue to be a net importer of sugar until the year 2000 because of steadily rising domestic demand, an official said yesterday.

The Ministry of Agriculture's Director General of Plantations A. Rante Tondok said domestic per capita sugar consumption would reach 18 kilograms in 2000, up from 17 kg last year.

National sugar consumption would increase from 3.3 million tons in 1995 to 3.8 million tons in 2000, he added.

The country only produced 2.1 million tons last year, although it was a significant increase from 1.6 million tons for 1983.

Tondok doubted Indonesia could meet its production target of 2.8 million tons this year. He did not elaborate, nor mention how much sugar would be imported.

He was quoted by Antara as projecting Indonesia's sugar production would reach 3.1 million tons by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan in 1999.

The government announced a plan earlier this year to close 27 of the 57 state-owned sugar mills in Java which have been rendered grossly inefficient by their outdated machinery.

The government has since urged private investors to replace the old mills with new ones on other islands.

Eight private sugar mills have since expressed interest in operating outside Java by the year 2000.

Three of the mills, each with a daily refining capacity of 8,000 tons and a plantation area of 20,000 hectares, will be built in the southern part of Sumatra by Sudono Salim's PT Indo Lampung and PT Laju Perdana Indah.

Two mills with the same capacity and acreage will be built in Southeast Sulawesi by state-owned plantation company PTP Nusantara XIV.

The other three will be developed in East Timor, West Nusa Tenggara and Irian Jaya by state and private companies.

National sugar output has declined over the last three years to 2.1 million tons last year, and imports have increased to meet the shortfall.

Last year 300,000 tons of sugar was imported, mainly from Thailand.

Tondok said that by 2000, local sugar mills would be expected to produce about 2.6 million tons.

"This is assuming the new mills outside Java are up and running," he said.

Chairman of the Indonesian Sugar Association Samsir also expressed concern about domestic sugar supplies. While neighboring countries were progressing in this field, Indonesia was regressing, he said.

"We are surrounded by 'sugar giants' such as Australia, Thailand and India which are all progressing quickly," he was quoted by Antara as saying at the association's congress in Denpasar, Bali.

Samsir said the government dominated Indonesia's sugar industry but sugar-cane farmers were only paid 50 percent of the retail price.

"This means (sugar prices) are still heavily burdened by taxes and sales margins," he said.

Samsir warned that high prices would harm the country once it was exposed to global free trade.

The situation is likely to get worse because Indonesia's sugar production shows no sign of significant growth, he said. (pwn)