"Those companies will only be issued permits to import sugar for 1 to 2 years until the factories they are building are ready to operate," Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said.
Bangkok (ANTARA News) - The government will issue sugar import permits only to companies developing sugar mills with the aim to meet domestic need, Trade Minister Rachmat Gobel said.

"The government is formulating a road map for the development of the integrated sugar industry with the aim to meet domestic demand and to stop sugar imports," Gobel stated on the sidelines of his working visit to Bangkok on Saturday.

Regulating sugar imports is among the policies that the government will take up, wherein it will only provide import permits to certain producer importers that are preparing to develop the national integrated sugar industry in Indonesia, he added.

"Those companies will only be issued permits to import sugar for 1 to 2 years until the factories they are building are ready to operate," the minister stated.

Gobel, who is a former chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) for industry, technology and maritime affairs, noted that he was impressed with the sugar industries in Thailand, which export 80 percent of their production and allocate only 20 percent for domestic consumption.

A number of sugar factories in Thailand, including those belonging to the KSL Group, have developed integrated sugar industries where different kinds of sugarcane by-products, including sugar, ethanol, bio-fertilizer, and power generator fuels, are produced.

"In the future, we have to have integrated sugar factories and stabilize its stock and price at home. Indonesia has to own integrated sugar industries," Gobel stressed.

In keeping with this purpose, he affirmed that he would cooperate with Industry Minister Saleh Husin and Agriculture Minister A. Amran Sulaiman to create a road map on the development of the countrys integrated sugar industry to achieve food sovereignty in Indonesia.

"Policies of the trade ministry will be aimed at realizing the matter," he added.

Furthermore, old sugar mills with low productivity are not the only obstacles to national sugar production; the shortage of land for sugarcane cultivation is also attributed as a hindrance.

"As part of efforts to achieve food sovereignty, particularly in sugar, Indonesia will need at least 700 thousand hectares of sugarcane plantations," the minister pointed out.

Based on data available at the trade ministry, sugarcane plantations in the country cover only some 460 thousand hectares.

"The government now allows the importation of only raw sugar. So white sugar (for consumption) and refined sugar (for the industries of food and beverages) industries at home will develop," Gobel explained.

However, the ministrys mid- and long-term policies will be aimed at reducing sugar imports in stages and stopping it altogether eventually, after sugar industries are integrated to meet the need at home.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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