July 28, 2010

Indonesia may miss soy output target

Indonesia's production of soy is predicted to fall short of the target of 1.3 million tonnes set for this year.

The country's production of the food product is forecast to reach only 1.08 million tonnes on longer rainy season, an official of the agriculture ministry said. The production, however, will still represent an increase from 970,000 tonnes last year, according to traders.

Traders said price fall also contribute to expected decline in the soy production as farmers would be discouraged to grow the crop.

The price of the country's soy at present averages Rs5,000 (US$0.55) per kg down from Rs6,000 earlier, traders said.

Earlier, the state statistics bureau announced that soy production in 2010 is expected to fall 4.8% to 927,380 tonnes, from 974,512 tonnes in 2009 and also lower than the agency's March forecast of 962,539 tonnes.

Meanwhile, Bali farmers have also been encouraged to develop soy plantations after they were able to increase the island's soy production in 2009 to 13,622 tonnes, a 45.03% increase compared with the previous year's 9,424 tonnes, a statistics official said.