Govt Allows Import of 600,000 tons Raw Sugar
15 December 2014 11:22 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Trade Ministry will issue the permit to import 600,000 tons of raw sugar as a raw material for refined sugar. Partogi Pangaribuan, the ministry's director general of foreign trade, said the import permit will be used to meet the demand from January to March 2015.
"The license will be issued immediately in mid-December," he said in Jakarta last weekend.
M. Adhi Lukman, chairman of the Indonesian Food and Beverages Association (Gapmmi), said an import allocation of 600,000 tons will not be enough to meet the industry demand. "The volume should be 620,000 tons," he said.
Meanwhile, Wisnu Hendraningrat, chairman of the Indonesian Refined Sugar Association has recommended the government to allow the import of 3.2 million tons of raw materials to meet the industry needs, based on the assumption of an eight-percent growth.
Wisnu asked the government to grant the request to prevent refined sugar factories from shutting down their operations over lack of raw materials. "Four of 11 refined sugar factories have stopped operating," he said.
PINGIT ARIA | URSULA FLORENE SONIA | ROFIUDDIN (SEMARANG) | ABDUL MALIK
