Indonesia targets soy self sufficiency

Indonesia aims to become self reliant in soy in the next five years, following on from its success ending imports of rice since last year, the country's recently appointed agriculture minister said on Friday (Nov 13).

Indonesia, which until 2007 was still a big importer of rice, posted a rice surplus for the first time nearly two decades last year and is now on track to post bigger surplus on higher output.

But Indonesia still relies on soy imports of over one million tonnes, or about half of domestic consumption.

The statistics agency's latest forecast showed Indonesia, the world's sixth-biggest soy importer, may produce 966,469 tonnes of soy in 2009, up from 775,710 tonnes in 2008.

To boost soy output further, the agriculture ministry has proposed re-imposing import duty of around 25 percent on soy. The country removed import duty in 2007 due to a shortage in the domestic market.