Government Will Open Import Frequency 4 Food Commodities This Year

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government plans to open the tap for importing four food commodities this year.

The four commodities in question are garlic, soybeans, beef and buffalo combinancing, and consumption of sugar.

Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi said the imports of the four commodities will be carried out this year.

This follows that it has been included in the list of the four commodities to the commodity balance sheet which was previously discussed in a limited coordination meeting or Coordinating Meeting at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs.

"We have prepared commodity balances from the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy for garlic, consumption sugar, buffalo and soybean ruminance meat, and soybeans. So only four are imported," he told reporters, Tuesday, January 10.

Furthermore, Arief said, rice has become a community imported in 2022 and then continued in early 2023.

"If rice has been from the previous year's 500,000 tons, 200,000 tons in December, 300,000 tons in January and February," he said.

Apart from imports, said Arief, the government also plans to open export taps.

One of the commodities that is planned to be exported this year is corn.

Arief continued, as much as 200,000 tons of corn will be exported to three countries, namely Vietnam, the Philippines and neighboring Malaysia.

"This year we schedule the first 3 months. We have met the Ambassador (Ambassador), we have met with Malaysian businessmen. So this is the Food Agency," he explained.