Holds ASEAN Sugar Alliance 2024 Meeting, ID FOOD Ready To Embrace Cross-State Industry Players

JAKARTA - The meeting of Southeast Asian youth industry players in 2024 or The 6th Meeting of ASEAN Sugar Alliance (ASA) was officially held in Indonesia, on June 24-25, 2023. The activity which presents delegates from the 8 countries is scheduled to discuss a number of important issues related to the challenges, strengthening, and sustainability of the sugar industry in the Southeast Asia or ASEAN region.

PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (Persero) or the Food SOE Holding ID FOOD which is the organizer with the Indonesian Sugar Association (AGI) in the forum voiced the urgency of self-sufficiency and the importance of upscaling sugar production through the application of technology and digitization in all stages of supply chains.

President Director of ID FOOD Sis Apik Wijayanto, through his statement on Tuesday, June 25 in Jakarta, said that the Food SOE Holding ID FOOD has a high concentration on the sugar sector. The reason is, the sugar industry is the company's largest line of business, where in 2023, the sugar business line will contribute 37 percent to the entire ID FOOD Group revenue.

The ID FOOD business itself manages 7 factories in West Java and East Java, with 55 thousand ha of land, both HGU and partnership status, and contributing around 270 thousand tons of sugar each year. This year's ID FOOD targets sugar production at 296 thousand tons, or grew 13 percent compared to the achievement in 2023," he explained.

In addition to being important for the company's business sustainability, the growth of the sugar industry is also important for meeting the needs of national and regional sugar demand.

'Gula is also an important strategic food commodity with consumption levels that continue to grow from year to year. As is known, the new sugar production rate in Indonesia can meet 66.7 percent of the total domestic sugar consumption needs," he said.

Based on these conditions, efforts to realize self-sufficiency in sugar need to continue to be encouraged and voiced, especially in regional countries that still experience a high dependence on sugar supply. According to him, the Indonesian government itself is currently getting serious about the realization of sugar self-sufficiency, marked by the issuance of Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia (Perpres) Number 40 of 2023, concerning the Acceleration of National Sugar Self-Sufficiency and Provision of Bioethenol as Nabati Fuel (Biofuel).

To encourage self-sufficiency in sugar, Sis Apik admitted that ID FOOD is ready to collaborate through cooperation in development, distribution, and investment with ASEAN regulatory business actors.

"Currently ID FOOD has done the milling season of all the sugar factories we have, and we are very open to all sugar industry players who are present in the ASA forum to visit our sugar factories, as well as open wide opportunities to collaborate and invest," he said.

He hopes, with good cross-regional collaboration, ASEAN has strong food security, especially for sugar commodities. More than that, it is hoped that ASEAN countries can grow and contribute as the main supplier of world sugar needs.

Meanwhile, Head of the National Food Agency (NFA) Arief Prasetyo Adi who was also present at the ASA forum invited sugar business actors throughout Southeast Asia to further strengthen the implementation of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles.

"The current world condition is full of challenges. For this reason, the existence of the ASEAN Sugar Alliance forum today can be a forum for sharing knowledge, exchanging views, and collaborating on issues and current conditions. Considering this is a valuable opportunity to exchange knowledge to develop policies, innovations, and technology," said Arief.

In the forum, AGI also explained the statistics and challenges of the Indonesian sugar industry, including the challenges of sugar factory infrastructure, downstreaming, integration of the sugar, energy, and bioethanol industries, as well as the growth of sugarcane plantation areas, as well as research and innovation that must continue to be improved.

The 6th Meeting of ASEAN Sugar Alliance was held for two days from 24-25 June 2024, in Jakarta. The meeting was attended by representatives of the government and players in the sugar industry from 8 countries, such as Indonesia as the host country, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia.