Indonesia to limit soy imports this year

The Indonesian government will set limit on soy imports this year in a bid to boost domestic production, a senior official said.

The domestic market has been dominated by imported products of soy, but the government plans to cut imports and encourage domestic production, Agriculture Minister Suswono said.

The import cut is a step in the program to reach self sufficiency in soybean supply in 2014, Suswono said last weekend.

The government has set an annual growth target of 20% for the domestic production of the foodstuff.

This year, the production is predicted to reach 1.3 million tonnes as against annual requirement of 2.2 million tonnes.

So far, the country the country has imported around 1.2 million tonnes of soy to make up for shortage in domestic supply.

Suswono hopes the state logistics board (Bulog) will buy soy from farmers at a price that could persuade the farmers into growing soy.