August 20, 2008
Indonesia will start restricting soy imports in 2009 by imposing quotas and will ban imports during harvest time, an official said.
The quota restriction is needed to protect the local farmers, Food Crop Director General Sutarto Alimoeso said.
Sutarto said the restrictions are necessary as the country's soy production are expected to increase in 2009.
Domestic production is forecast to be enough to meet 60 percent of the domestic requirement in 2009, up from only 40 percent at present, he told the newspaper Investor Daily.
Indonesia soy planting in 2008 has been encouraging as farmer enthusiasm has been high due to the high market prices, he said.
Indonesia's Central Bureau of Statistics said in early July that the country's soy production is expected to increase 22 percent to 723,540 tonnes this year. Low prices for local soy have forced Indonesian farmers to exit the business in recent years, forcing food manufacturers to use higher-priced imports for raw ingredients, thereby driving up inflation.