Indonesia to import corn, raw sugar in 2025 for industrial use amid food self-reliance push

Indonesia will import 900,000 metric tons of food-grade corn and 3.4 million tons of raw sugar in 2025, senior minister overseeing food affairs Zulkifli Hasan said on Monday, adding that imports were only for industrial raw materials.

The import announcement comes as Indonesia has set a target to reach food self-reliance in the next four years under the presidency of Prabowo Subianto, who took office in October.

Zulkifli told reporters that there may only be imports forraw materials next year and not for direct consumption.

Indonesia has already said that next year it may not import rice, a staple food in the Southeast Asian country of about 280 million people. However, if imports were needed it would likely be a small amount of rice depending on supplies, said Zulkifli.

Indonesia’s rice output is estimated to fall 2.43% this year to 30.34 million metric tons, due to a delay in planting and the harvest season after dry weather in 2023, the statistics bureau said in October.

Indonesia’s rice output target for next year is at 32 million tons.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Bernadette Christina; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Janane Venkatraman)