Ship carrying corn from Argentina turned away

JAKARTA (JP): The government has refused to allow the docking of a freighter carrying some 68,897 tons of corn from Argentina for fear of contamination from foot-and-mouth disease which has broken out in the South American country.

The MV Captain Diamantis Pariues is the second freighter that has been refused permission to dock by the Center for Agricultural Quarantine at the Ministry of Agriculture. It is now anchored in the Sunda Strait, some two miles out from Cigading seaport in Merak, Banten.

Cigading port operator PT Krakatau Bandar Samudra's director Fazwar Bujang said the freighter was carrying 68,897 tons of corn of which 48,897 tons were to be unloaded at the seaport.

The freighter intended to unload the remaining corn at Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, he said, refusing to name the importer of the corn, Bisnis Indonesia reported.

Earlier this month, the freighter MV Agia Eirini carrying 38,000 tons of Argentinean corn imported by PT Cargill Indonesia was also refused entry. It is now still anchored outside Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta.

The government in April issued a regulation banning the importation of certain products from countries deemed unsuccessful in controlling the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, including Uruguay, Britain, the Netherlands, and Argentina.

The countries affected are being periodically evaluated and, as of May, imports from France, Ireland, Peru, and Brazil were permitted to enter the country again on a conditional basis, Sofyan Sudrajat of the Ministry of Agriculture said.

If there are no new outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in the affected countries within 30 days of the last outbreak, then the ministry will again review the ban, he said.

Commodities banned from being imported into Indonesia include pigs and pig products; pets such as dogs, cats, and horses; organic products such as meat, milk, embryos, animal fertilizers, and eggs; feedstuffs; and used farm equipment.

Separately, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, warned importers to carefully heed the kinds of products banned from importation.

"Don't let it happen that (a product) is imported, and we later discover that it originates from an affected country," he said.

Luhut said that a team consisting of officials from his ministry, the Ministry of Agriculture, associations and agricultural experts, will begin on Monday to make an inventory of all the commodities banned from entering the country. (tnt)