Visiting Kujang Fertilizer Factory, Zulhas Asks For Efficient Operations
KARAWANG - Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan visited a fertilizer factory owned by PT Pupuk Kujang Cikampek, West Java, to ensure that factory operations could be efficient so that subsidized fertilizer prices could fall.
"Today I am in Pupuk Kujang which was built in 1975. So it's been 50 years. So if we imagine it's easy, if people's transportation is now taking a car, for example a bus made in 2025. Kujang still uses a bus made in 1975," he said during a visit to the Kujang Fertilizer Factory, Cikampek, Karawang, West Java, Thursday, November 6.
Zulhas, as Zulkifli Hasan is familiarly called, said that at the age of 50, the factory is old. In fact, he said, the ideal age is so that factories can efficiently range from 15 to 20 years.
Even so, Zulhas assessed that the reform of the fertilizer subsidy system had brought major changes to the efficiency of the national fertilizer industry. In fact, it can reduce fertilizer prices by up to 20 percent.
"I can imagine how not efficient it is, today's 2025 is made in 1975. Well, how many years should it be? Consider 20 years. Consider 40 years dead. This is 50 years old. But I'm happy even though it's late," he said.
Zulhas also appreciated the steps taken by the President Director of PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero), Rahmad Pribadi, who was able to carry out a new scheme of subsidized fertilizer from initially cost plus to mark to market, so as to reduce waste.
For your information, in the fertilizer subsidy, the cost plus system means that the government bears all the production costs proposed by the company, then adds a certain profit margin. Meanwhile, the market to market, namely subsidies, is calculated based on the price of the fertilizer market and raw materials, not from the company's total costs.
"In the past, subsidies were a cost plus model. So it's good to have a high boarding house, fortunately it's a lot due to cost plus. Now the market to market policy is taken. So our subsidy is Rp44 trillion, it's fixed with the market to market. The money can be used to buy raw materials and so on," he said.
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In fact, Zulhas admitted that saving can still be done again and makes budget governance more efficient.
"I heard that it can still be more economical. It can still save, I don't know how much," said Zulhas.