Cs Wheat Imports From Ukraine Destroyed, BPS Suggests Expand Stocks From Other Countries

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) cannot deny that the war situation in Ukraine has an impact on Indonesia's economic activity. One of the highlights is the drop in the delivery of grain commodities (cereals), including wheat, from Ukraine to Indonesia.

Head of BPS Margo Yuwono revealed that the number of shipments of cereal products from the Eastern European country in January-February 2022 decreased drastically to only US$15.7 million or 2.16 percent of the total.

In fact, the contribution of Ukraine as a supplier of wheat cs usually reaches a portion of around 20 percent to 25 percent and occupies the top two positions after Australia. This situation is no doubt a cause for concern for economic activity in the country.

This is because wheat and other cereal commodities are generally used as raw materials for value-added food products, such as bread and instant noodles. For this reason, Margo encourages the government to make policies that favor business actors so that economic activity and the processing industry can continue without worrying about a shortage of raw materials.

"If imports of cereals from Ukraine are disrupted, we can increase import quotas from other countries so that domestic supply is maintained so that the Indonesian economy can continue to run," he said during a press conference via virtual channels on Tuesday, March 15.

The decline in food supplies from Ukraine was very obvious. This is because throughout 2021, the country led by Volodymyr Zelensky will send cereal products worth US$946.5 to the Indonesian domestic market. The book places Ukraine as the second largest wheat importer in Indonesia after Australia, which takes up 36.25 percent of the national market.

In general, the trade balance between Indonesia and Ukraine experienced a deficit of 6.9 million US dollars in January-February 2022. Meanwhile, for the whole of 2021, Indonesia also recorded a deficit of 15 million US dollars.