U.S. to provide funds for RI food imports
U.S. to provide funds for RI food imports
MANILA (Reuters): The United States is likely to sign an
agreement soon that would provide concessional financing for
Indonesia's import of American food products, a U.S. Department
of Agriculture official said yesterday.
"We met several times with Indonesian government officials
regarding the PL 480 Title 1 portion and I think we made a great
headway...and we are very close to being ready to sign that
agreement," USDA general sales manager Christopher Goldthwait
told Reuters.
PL 480 is a program to boost U.S. farm exports, and the Title
1 agreement provides for government-to-government export
transactions with financing in foreign currency.
Goldthwait is in Manila on the third leg of an Asian trip to
promote U.S. farm exports. In addition to Indonesia and the
Philippines, he visited Singapore and is leaving Manila for South
Korea later on Tuesday.
"It is possible that it (a loan) will be signed as early...as
the end of this week," he said. "It will cover soybeans and rice,
and there is also a wheat component...through a private sector
agreement with two...flour mills."
Goldthwait identified the two Indonesian flour mills as
Sriboga and Citra.
Goldthwait said the U.S. government was looking at plans to
donate wheat to Indonesia as part of U.S. President Bill
Clinton's food aid initiative.
"The Department of Agriculture is planning on purchasing 2.5
million tonnes of wheat at our domestic market in an effort to
increase U.S. farm prices," he said.
"That wheat would be...donated as food aid to countries.
Indonesia is one among the countries that we are looking at and
based on my visit there, there is a need for some additional food
assistance beyond what we have provided for under PL 480,"
Goldthwait said.
Indonesia, one of the countries hit hardest by the Asian
currency crisis, has also utilized USDA's farm export credit
guarantees.
"We have a $400-million allocation for exports to Indonesia,
of which we have seen utilized about $100 million worth...largely
by the textile industry and by the Bulog for purchasing
soybeans," Goldthwait said, adding the credit line was for the
current U.S. fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Bulog is Indonesia's state trading firm.
The credit line was part of more than $2 billion in export
credit guarantees opened by the USDA to South Korea, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand since last
December as part of its campaign to keep its farm exports moving
into the region despite the Asian currency crisis.
Goldthwait said he expected Indonesia to import roughly four
million tonnes of rice this year and about four million tonnes of
wheat. He did not give comparative figures.