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Lower production, delayed imports will further tighten sugar supply
The lack of the sugar supply is partly caused by a delay in the issuance of an import permit by the Trade Ministry, the president director of Bulog said.
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Customers shop at wholesale food market Jakgrosir in Jakarta on March 12, in front of a sign that says maximum 1 kilogram of sugar per person. (JP/Made Anthony Iswara)
T
he Agriculture Ministry is seeking to secure supplies of staple foods including sugar as the introduction of large-scale social restriction measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 may disrupt distribution, especially in Greater Jakarta.
While conducting an inspection at the Toko Tani Indonesia Center (TTIC), a grocery store in South Jakarta tasked with providing affordable food, Agriculture Minister Syahrul Syasin Limpo reassured the public that it had enough supplies of onion, garlic, eggs, chicken, rice, chili and cooking oil, but not sugar.
“There is a basic sufficiency of all commodities provided here. The only commodity that concerns us is sugar,” Syahrul said during a visit to the TTIC on Wednesday. “Today we are going to visit sugar factories in Cilegon [in Banten].”
Separately, the president director of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) Budi Waseso said in Jakarta on Thursday that the lack of sugar supply was partly caused by a delay in the issuance of an import permit by the Trade Ministry.
He said that the request for the permit to import 50,000 tons of white crystal sugar had been submitted a month ago, but the trade minister issued the permit only on Wednesday.
"The import permit was issued only on Wednesday evening at 11 a.m. This will be followed up immediately, but the situation is not easy now," Budi said in a virtual hearing with House of Representatives Commission IV.
He said that the situation was getting more difficult now because the countries from which Indonesia would import sugar had imposed lockdowns to halt the spread of COVID-19.
