Heat Add Sugar Supply Anticipates Surge In Demand For Ramadan And Eid 2023

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - The National Food Agency (Bapanas)/National Food Agency (NFA) has increased the supply of sugar to anticipate a surge in demand for the National Religious Holidays (HBKN) of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr 2023.

Head of Badanas Arief Prasetyo Adi in his statement, quoted from Antara, Saturday, March 25, said that based on the Prognosis of the National Food Balance from January to December 2023, it is estimated that this year the production of domestic sugar is around 2.6 million tons, while the national sugar demand rate for 2023 is around 3.4 million tons.

"So the difference still has to be closed by foreign supplies. This foreign procurement step is what we accelerate from the start so that there is no shortage in society, considering fasting and Eid this year is closer to the beginning of the year and ahead of the sugar milling season," he said.

Badanas has also submitted a letter requesting the assignment of the Minister of SOEs to Food SOEs, namely ID Food and PTPN Holding Plantation to procure foreign consumption of sugar.

Through this assignment, SOEs Food ID Food and PTPN Holding Plantation will gradually bring in around 215 thousand tons of white crystal sugar (GKP).

The entire licensing process from the Ministry of SOEs and the Ministry of Trade has been fulfilled. The arrival is carried out in stages. In March-May, it is targeted to enter around 99 thousand tons of GKP," he said again.

In the context of equitable distribution, the arrival of the GKP in March-May 2023 was carried out at three ports, namely Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, Tanjung Perak Surabaya, and Belawan Medan.

The assignment of this procurement, he said, was in accordance with the agreement of the Technical Coordination Meeting (Rakornis) and the Ministerial Level Limited Coordination Meeting (Rakortas) in January, this was in order to maintain supply stability and food prices in 2023 and strengthen Government Pagan Reserves (CPP).

This step is also in line with the direction of the President of the Republic of Indonesia so that Ministries/Institutions in detail calculate and ensure food stocks for the community during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

As for the NFA Food Price Panel, the national average price of consumption sugar at the consumer level as of March 24, 2023, is at IDR 14,416 per kg.

This price tends to be stable since October 2022 and is still below the Sales Reference Price (HAP) at the consumer level, according to the National Food Agency Regulation (Perbadan) Number 11 of 2022 which stipulates a sugar HAP at the consumer level of Rp. 14,500 per kg.