January 29, 2010

Indonesia's soymeal imports up from a year ago

Indonesia's imports of soymeal have increased from year to year, Agriculture Minister Suswono said.

Last year imports of soymeal, a basic material for animal feed, totalled two million tonnes, up from 1.53 million tonnes in the previous year.

Suswono said imports are also needed for other basic materials including fishmeal, and corn costing Indonesia large foreign exchange every year.

Imports of corn, however, had declined sharply from 676,000 tonnes in 2007 to 170,000 tonnes in 2008, he said.

He said the government seeks to boost the production of corn and other basic materials to reduce dependence on imports.