TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, disclosed the government's plan to import four basic commodities to ensure the supply ahead of this year's Eid al-Fitr, which falls on May 12 and May 13, 2021. This data is noted in the prognosis of the national availability and needs of staple foods in January-May 2021.

"Several commodities must be procured from abroad because domestic production cannot meet the community needs," said Syahrul in a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) Agricultural Commission in Jakarta, Thursday, March 18, 2021.

Of the total 12 basic commodities, the supplies of four staple goods will be met through imports as follow:

1. Soybeans

The government planned to import 1 million tons of soybean, given the final stock of soybeans in 2020 amounting to 413,000 tons and the estimated local production reaching 42,000 tons, while the public demand is predicted to be at 1.3 million tons.

2. Garlic

The final stock of garlic in 2020 is 134,000 tons and the estimated local production capacity is at 14,000 tons, which is far from the estimated public demand totaling 243,000 tons. That said, the import estimate is 257,000 tons.

3. Beef

The final stock of beef and buffalo in 2020 is 34,000 tons with local production capacity is estimated at 120 thousand tons. Meanwhile, the estimated demand will be at 280,000 tons. Therefore, as many as 111,000 tons will be imported.

4. Sugar

The last year's stock of sugar remained 804,000 tons and the local production is estimated to amount to 135,000 tons. These figures will not meet the national demand of 1.2 million tons so that the government was determined to import 646,000 tons of sugar.

The local production of the other eight basic commodities is predicted to be sufficient to meet the national demand until May 2021. They are rice, corn, shallots, large chili, bird's eye chili, purebred chicken, eggs, and cooking oil.

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