Minister Dahlan: Sugar Prices Unexpectedly Drop
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Minggu, 20 Juli 2014 15:54 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned Company Minister Dahlan Iskan expressed a shock knowing that the sugar auction price was extremely low.
“We didn’t expect this. We did not think that imported sugar entering the market was so large and so free,” Dahlan said when inspecting the process of sugarcane processing at Jatiroto Sugar Factory, Lumajang, on Saturday, July 19, 2014.
Dahlan said the plummeting prices should be addressed. He said that the government may have to control refined sugar in the market.
“The regulation states clearly that refined sugar is not allowed to enter the market. But the reality shows otherwise,” he said.
Dahlan concluded that there has been a mass-violation of the regulation, causing farmers and sugar producers to suffer the consequences.
A resource told Tempo that the sugar price in an auction at Jatiroto Sugar Factory was quite low at Rp8,200, although the government had set a target of the sugar price at Rp8,500. Concerns with stacking supplies of sugar made farmers sold sugar for Rp8,200.
DAVID PRIYASIDHARTA