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View all search resultsSugarcane farmers query House over sugar imports
Leaders of the Indonesian Sugarcane Farmers Association (APTRI) have complained at the House of Representatives that sugar imports would keep prices depressed and put strain on an industry struggling to gain a footing.
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Field workers harvest sugarcane to have it ready for crushing in Purwosekar village in Malang, East Java, in this July 2026 photo. (JP/Aman Rochman)
D
omestic sugarcane farmers have questioned a decision to import 150,000 tonnes of raw sugar for household consumption, saying the move makes little sense during the harvest season and just weeks after the government declared the country self-sufficient in consumer sugar.
Leaders of the Indonesian Sugarcane Farmers Association (APTRI) took the complaint to the House of Representatives on Sept. 22 and 23, telling Commission VI and Commission IV lawmakers that the shipments would keep prices depressed and put strain on an industry struggling to gain a footing.
“Last year, there were imports of 200,000 tonnes. Our leftover stock at the end of 2025 was 1.2 million tonnes, and with this import it comes to roughly 1.4 million tonnes,” APTRI chairman Soemitro Samadikun told lawmakers, arguing that the policy should be tested against the national sugar balance sheet, the arrival schedule, end users and distribution areas.
A government projection as of September forecasts 2026 consumer sugar production at about 3.02 million tonnes, with stocks of 1.45 million tonnes at the time and 142,500 tonnes of raw sugar imports planned for September to December.
Against projected consumption of 2.83 million tonnes, that would leave about 1.78 million tonnes in stocks at the year’s end.
The import permits were allocated through state-owned food holding company ID Food, with 50,000 tonnes to be milled at the Madukismo sugar mill in Bantul, Yogyakarta, and the remaining 100,000 tonnes at a privately owned mill in Bombana, Southeast Sulawesi, which is known to belong to local tycoon Haji Isam.
Soemitro questioned both the need for the imports and the allocation, saying regulations allowed imported raw sugar for consumer use to be processed only by state-owned mills.
