January 6, 2017

Indonesia targets to stop corn imports in 2017

Indonesia's Agriculture Ministry has targeted to stop the import of corn for feed use in 2017, an official of the ministry told Antara News.

The ministry "has expanded the corn plantation area by two million hectares and has encouraged feed producers to buy corn produced locally", the Ministry's Directorate General of Animal Feed, Triastuti Andajani, said in a statement.

The Indonesian Feed Millers Association (GPMT) forecast that feed production in 2017 could reach 18.5 million tonnes. Corn demand for animal feed in 2017 is estimated to reach 12.85 million tonnes.

In September 2016, the ministry and GPMT signed a memorandum of understanding, which was followed by cooperation between the agriculture offices in 33 provinces and local feed producers to buy locally-produced corn.

Data from the ministry revealed that corn imports in 2016, as of December, had fallen to 884,679 tonnes, or 68% as compared to imports during the last five years. Indonesia had imported 3 million tonnes of corn in 2011, 1.5 million tonnes in 2012, 2.95 million tonnes in 2013, 3.1 million tonnes in 2014, and 2.74 million tonnes in 2015.