Indonesian firms to stop wheat imports from Australia

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian companies have agreed to stop importing wheat from Australia due to tension in bilateral relations between the two countries, an executive said on Thursday.

"To maintain our supply, we have decided to shift our wheat imports to other countries due to the political tension between Australia and Indonesia," said Bustanil Arifin, the chief commissioner of wheat importer PT Sriboga Raturay and a former chief of the State Logistics Agency.

Sriboga said all wheat importers agreed at a meeting on Wednesday night to stop importing from Australia to ensure the continuity of their wheat supply in case relations between the two countries further deteriorated.

Sriboga, which operates a flour mill in Semarang, imports around 450,000 metric tons of wheat annually from the Australian Wheat Board.

Indonesia imports a total of 5.5 million tons of wheat annually, of which 2.7 million tons comes from Australia, the company said.

"Sriboga has decided to stop importing wheat from Australia beginning today," he said.

He said he was disappointed with the arrogant attitude of the Australian government in its approach to East Timor.

Bustanil said other countries such as the United State of America, Europe, India and China were eager to fill the gap left by Australia.

"Wheat is abundantly available on the international market," he said, adding that Indonesia would have no difficulty securing imports from other countries.

He said Sriboga currently had 60,000 tons of wheat, enough for its flour production until the end of the year.

There are four wheat importers in Indonesia: PT Sriboga Raturaya, PT Bogasari Flour Mills, PT Berdikari Flour Mills and PT Citra Persada.

Bogasari, the largest of the four, suffered a delay in its wheat delivery from Australia last week when 40,000 tons of its wheat was stranded at an Australian port by the Australian union boycott.

Australian unions boycotted goods leaving for and coming from Indonesia for a week in an effort to pressure the Indonesian government into restoring order in East Timor.

The unions halted the boycott last weekend, but threatened to reimpose it if Indonesia restricted the multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor. (02)