Poultry: Ambiguity in corn import regulation
The government has appointed to the Bureau of Logistic Affairs (Bulog) to import 600,000 tonnes of corn in 1Q16. However, the feedmill industry has also imported about 675,000 tonnes in the same period. All this while, all corn imports have been done by the feedmill industry. The Association of Indonesian Feed Producer (APPI) says that the Minister of Agriculture regulation no 57/2015 that bans the corn import cannot be implemented as the Ministry of Trade has not issued the related regulation. About 50% of animal feed content comprises of corn so that when the corn price increases, the feed price increases as well. If the feed price increases, then the cost of production for farmers will also rise. Currently, the corn price has reached Rp7,000/kg. The normal average corn price for feed used to be about Rp3,000-3,500/kg. The Ministry of Agriculture has attempted to increase the welfare of corn farmers and the corn price has been allowed to rise. However, the Ministry of Agriculture has been accused not being able to maintain the corn supply as the raw material for animal feed. Despite the ambiguity in import regulation, the feedmill industry continued to import corn in Dec 15, and these are targeted to arrive in Feb 16. If the corn imports arrive, total corn imports will be about 1,275,000 tonnes in 1Q16, or nearly 45% of the total import in 2015. APPI says that the feedmill industry does imports as they are uncertain about the corn supply being imported by Bulog.