VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

India is currently trying to explore sugar trading cooperation with Indonesia. India as the second largest sugar producer in the world is trying to export its sugar surplus to Indonesia. Not only that, India plans to help Indonesia to revitalize the sugar factory in Indonesia, which is largely a relic of the Dutch Colonial government. However, to realize such cooperation, Indonesia was asked to reconsider the amount of import duty which is still too high so that makes Indian sugar products are not competitive in the Indonesian market. This was conveyed by the Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Oke Nurwan, after attending the India Indonesia Forum on Sugar Trade in Jakarta, Tuesday 17 July.

"There are different treatments by Indonesia where their sugar does not become competitive due to the 10 percent import tariffs. While the other, from Australia and Thailand, is the same, which is still five percent. So they just asked again, to see this again. Then they can also, in government to government scheme, invite, build, they know our problem One of them is our aging sugar factories, and so on. They have the technology for it, said Nurwan.

Oke Nurwan further said, the Ministry of Trade will consider the desire of India to export sugar production to Indonesia. He also stated that Indonesia is principally open and does not limit itself to trade cooperation with various countries. However, he still asks India as an exporting country to customize its products with pre-determined specifications and conditions. India is the second largest sugar producer in the world after Brazil. Recently, the Indian Sugar Factory Association said sugar production in India this year is projected to increase by 10 percent with total production reaching 35 million tons. (VOI / Rezha/AHM)