September 5, 2008

Indonesia's 2008 corn imports are likely to fall by half to 300,000 tonnes from 600,000 tonnes in 2007, said Tony J Kristianto, secretary-general of the Indonesia Agri-business Club on Thursday (September 4).

Kristianto said on the sidelines of the US-Southeast Asia Agricultural Co-operators Conference that a higher domestic output due to the adoption of better quality hybrid seeds from 2007 onwards is leading to lower imports.

He added that Indonesia's corn output in 2008 was likely to be 8.5 million-9 million tonnes, compared with 7.9 million tonnes in 2007.

The country would also export around 200,000 tonnes of corn to neighboring countries such as Malaysia and the Philippines, up from 15,000 tonnes in 2007, according to Kristianto.