PTPN III Boss Admits Farmer's Sugar Is Unable To Compete With Imported Products

Sugar (photo: intermediate)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Perkebunan Nusantara III or PTPN III Mohammd Abdul Ghani admitted that local farmers' sugar was unable to compete against imported products.

Currently, said Ghani, domestic sugar production of farmers is only around 4 to 5 tons per year. Meanwhile, the domestic production cost (HPP) of sugar is Rp. 12,500 per kg, unable to compete with imported products which are only in the range of Rp. 10,000 per kg.

"Grocery farmers, if they are against imported sugar, will lose, no matter how long they lose. So when you say sugar, farmers are priced," he said in a statement with Commission VI of the DPR, at the DPR Building, Parliament Complex, Tuesday, June 25.

PTPN III, continued Ghanin, is trying to encourage farmer productivity so that it can increase to 8 tons per hectare. That way, the sugar HPP will be at the level of Rp6,300 per kg and can compete with imported sugar.

"We want to ask for the support of Commission VI of the DPR before the production of farmer productivity reaches 8 tons, please protect us from entering imported sugar," he said.

In addition, Ghani proposed to form a sugar-commodated Public Service Agency (BLU) as applied to palm oil commodities through the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS).

Dengan bagitu, kata Ghani, sugar impor yang masuk ke Indonesia bisa dikenakan pungutan atau levy. Misalnya, sebesar Rp1,000 per kg sugar impor.

"There should be sugar. So when you say farmers' sugar, the basic price is IDR 12,000, when imports come in IDR 10,000, then there must be levy, say IDR 1,000," he said.

"The money is for farmers, not for PTPN or the private sector for farmers to help with research on seed varieties and others. That's our hope, maybe not in the short term but in the long term that we need to think about," he continued.