INDONESIA BUILD NEW SUGAR PLANT
Source: the Jakarta Post
Date: March 14, 2006
To help gradually reduce dependency on sugar imports, at least 8 sugar mills equipped with the necessary equipment to produce white sugar will be built this year, according to an industry association.
"We plan to collaborate with state-owned PT Barata to build eight sugar mills capable of supplying up to 50,000 tons annually," Sugar and Flour Producers Association (Apegti) chairman Natsir Mansyur said during a hearing Monday with the House of Representatives' trade and industry commission.
This would amount to about one-sixth of the country's annual white sugar imports.
The plants would be built in areas outside Java to supply local consumption, Natsir said without giving details of the locations.
"Each plant will need an investment of Rp 250 billion (some US$27 million)," Natsir added.
The plants, he explained, would operate on two cycles to ensure greater efficiency.
"They will produce raw sugar during the sugarcane harvest, while afterwards they will be able to operate as refineries, using imported raw sugar as the raw material," he said.
Separately, state-owned plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara said it would planned to build a sugar refinery in South Kalimantan.
The refinery, which will require an investment of Rp 750 billion, will have an annual production capacity of 70,000 tons.
Critics have frequently called for an integrated effort to reduce imports, especially after prices of sugar soared recently.
Earlier this year, sugar prices jumped from Rp 5,500 per kilogram to as high as Rp 7,000 in some parts of the country.
The Trade Ministry blamed the hikes on higher fuel prices and soaring sugar prices on the global market.
The price of sugar reached a 25-year high at the end of last year, and is expected to remain high until at least next October.
The government has said it will import 300,000 tons of white sugar this year.
Date: March 14, 2006
To help gradually reduce dependency on sugar imports, at least 8 sugar mills equipped with the necessary equipment to produce white sugar will be built this year, according to an industry association.
"We plan to collaborate with state-owned PT Barata to build eight sugar mills capable of supplying up to 50,000 tons annually," Sugar and Flour Producers Association (Apegti) chairman Natsir Mansyur said during a hearing Monday with the House of Representatives' trade and industry commission.
This would amount to about one-sixth of the country's annual white sugar imports.
The plants would be built in areas outside Java to supply local consumption, Natsir said without giving details of the locations.
"Each plant will need an investment of Rp 250 billion (some US$27 million)," Natsir added.
The plants, he explained, would operate on two cycles to ensure greater efficiency.
"They will produce raw sugar during the sugarcane harvest, while afterwards they will be able to operate as refineries, using imported raw sugar as the raw material," he said.
Separately, state-owned plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara said it would planned to build a sugar refinery in South Kalimantan.
The refinery, which will require an investment of Rp 750 billion, will have an annual production capacity of 70,000 tons.
Critics have frequently called for an integrated effort to reduce imports, especially after prices of sugar soared recently.
Earlier this year, sugar prices jumped from Rp 5,500 per kilogram to as high as Rp 7,000 in some parts of the country.
The Trade Ministry blamed the hikes on higher fuel prices and soaring sugar prices on the global market.
The price of sugar reached a 25-year high at the end of last year, and is expected to remain high until at least next October.
The government has said it will import 300,000 tons of white sugar this year.
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1:27 PM
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