Trade Minister: Farmers Free to Sell Their Sugar

Kompas/Abdullah Fikri Ashri

Activity in the Sindanglaut sugar factory looks quiet on Tuesday after the grinding season, in Cirebon regency, West Java. Local sugarcane farmers complain about the slow absorption of farmers’ sugar. Out of 17 auction periods, the farmers’ sugar has only been sold from periods 1 to 10.

NUSA PENIDA, KOMPAS – Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita has said the ministry had agreed that sugarcane farmers were free to sell their sugar to either the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) or other buyers. The government’s appointment of Bulog to purchase farmers’ sugar did not mean that farmers were obliged to sell their sugar to the agency.

In an interview with Kompas in Bali on Wednesday (25/10), Enggartiasto said the government had tasked Bulog with absorbing farmers’ sugar at Rp 9,700 (72 US cents) per kilogram. This was agreed upon in a meeting at the Office of the Coordinating Economy Minister.