Sugar Farmers Scream, Four Periods Of Giling Haven't Been Paid Due To Piles Of Sugar Stock
JAKARTA - Member of Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Nasim Khan highlighted the accumulation of sugar stocks in a number of sugar factories in Situbondo and Bondowoso, East Java. This condition occurs amidst the rise of refined sugar that floods the market so that sugar produced by people's factories is difficult to absorb.
This situation was revealed in the Nasim Khan audience with the Association of Indonesian People's Tebu Farmers (APTRI) and the General Manager of sugar factories in Regional 4 East Java, Sunday, August 10.
Data shows that sugar stocks have not been sold to thousands of tons. At the Prajekan sugar factory has 4,600 tons of sugar worth Rp 60 billion, PG Assembagoes (Situbondo) 5,000 tons worth Rp 50 billion, PG Panji 2,500 tons worth Rp 36 billion, and PG Wringin Anom 3,900 tons which the market has not absorbed for the last eight periods of the mill.
"This is like life in the throat. Farmers are waiting for payment, but sugar is not selling well in the market," said Chandra Sakri Widjaja, GM PG Prajekan in a written statement.
Refined sugar, which should only be for the food and beverage industry, is said to be one of the triggers for the problem. With a price of around Rp. 13,600 per kilogram (kg), refined sugar is cheaper than people's factory sugar which is sold for Rp. 14,400 per kg. In fact, the government's sales reference price (HAP) is Rp. 14,500 per kg.
As a result of stagnant sales, payments to farmers were delayed. A similar statement was also put forward by GM PG Assembagoes, Mulyono, who admitted that the four milling periods could not pay the farmers. In fact, the remaining stock of the previous milling season still reached 140,000 tons.
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A week ago, the Central APTRI management coordinated with the relevant ministries. One of the options discussed is the temporary purchase by PT Sinergi Sugar Nusantara (SGN) using Danantara funds to help vacate the warehouse and provide payments to farmers.
However, Nasim Khan stressed that this solution is short-term. He urged the government to take quick steps.
"If you can't wait for next week, tomorrow there must be a decision. In this region alone, hundreds of billions of rupiah have not been paid. This condition is very worrying," he said.