January 18, 2008

Indonesian government urges importers to release soy stocks

The Indonesian government on Wednesday urged importers to dispense soy stocks to help stabilize the market prices.

Djoko Said Damardjati, director general for Processing and Marketing of Agricultural Products, said his office had held talks with the Trade Ministry on how to stabilize the soy prices to the normal level of about IDR4,000 (US$0.42) per kilogramme.

Importers still had around 200,000 - 300,000 tonnes of soy stocks which could be released into the market to tame price hikes, he said.

Indonesia's demand for soy is currently at 6,000 tonnes per day. Importers' stocks of 300,000 tonnes could be used until March to stabilize the market prices, the director general explained.

Meanwhile, coordinating minister for economic affairs, Boediono, said the government is also looking on raising the number of soy importers, a short-term remedy for the upward trend of prices.