Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
White Crystal Sugar (GKP) of 2,000 tons from Thailand arrived at the Tanjung Priok Container Port, Jakarta on Saturday (1/4).
Head of the National Food Agency (NFA) Arief Prasetyo Adi revealed that the arrival of the GKP was to meet the demand for sugar stocks during the Ramadan and Idul Fitri periods.
This was conveyed by Arief while reviewing the opening of the GKP procurement ship’s hold brought in by the BUMN Food Holding, ID FOOD.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO RESUME CONTENT
Arief said the sugar procurement was carried out to meet the needs of the community, which usually experiences an increase in demand during the momentum ahead of Idul Fitri, while the sugar cane milling season will only start around May.
Therefore, the availability of sugar must still be supported from the outside to keep prices on the market running in accordance with Agency Regulations 11 of 2022 concerning Reference Purchase Prices at the Producer Level and Sales Reference Prices at the Consumer Level (HAP) for Consumable Sugar Commodities of IDR 13,500 per kg .
“This external procurement is only to secure sugar stocks to meet needs in order to stabilize supply and prices, especially during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. In accordance with the agreement of the Technical Coordination Meeting (Rakornis) and Limited Coordination Meeting (Rakortas) at the Ministerial level last January,” said Arief in the official statement.
Based on the calculation of the 2023 Food Commodity Balance, the national demand for sugar will reach 3.4 million tons, and it is estimated that national production will only reach 2.6 million tons. Meanwhile, there is still a carry over from 2022 of 1.1 million tons, so there is still a shortage.
At least, it is necessary to procure another 900 thousand tons of GKP so that at the end of the year there will still be 1.2 million tons in stock, and the need for sugar during the Ramadan and Eid holidays can be sufficiently met.
He continued, this step was also in line with President Joko Widodo’s direction for ministries/agencies to calculate and ensure food stocks for the community in detail.
“Because of President Jokowi’s order, the price must be reasonable at the level of farmers, millers and consumers. SOEs are the offtakers of the production of farmers and breeders,” he added.
The NFA also requested an application for the assignment of the Minister of SOEs to ID FOOD to absorb farmers’ sugar. Arief said the final agreed price was IDR 11,500 per kg, but he said he would conduct a study with the association of smallholder sugarcane farmers as an adjustment to get the right price.
In line with this, the Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade, Budi Santoso, emphasized that food imports are carried out only to meet domestic needs and stabilize food supply and prices.
“Because it is indeed a national need and that is based on the Rakortas according to the commodity balance, it was decided to import, if there is a surplus, we will export it,” he said.
Main Director of Food Holding ID FOOD Frans Marganda Tambunan said the arrival of the GKP was part of 32,500 tons of the total assignment of 107,900 tons, which will be carried out in stages until May 2023.
“The realization of the sugar assignment is expected to be able to maintain the price of sugar according to the Highest Retail Price (HET) set by the government, our target is that before the 2023 HBKN is completed, there will be another arrival of GKP of around 40,000 tons,” he explained.
Furthermore, Frans said that the plan for the realization of the 2023 sugar supply assignment would enter through several points of arrival areas, namely Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Tanjung Perak and Medan.
(Gambas:Video CNN)
(ldy/sfr)