Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said Indonesia will tighten controls on refined sugar imports and require importers to develop domestic plantations to protect farmers, reform the sugar industry, and pursue self-sufficiency within two years.
Amran said imported refined sugar had flooded the domestic market, depressing prices and harming local sugarcane farmers. The article says PT Perkebunan Nusantara reported losses of about Rp600 billion, while PT Sinergi Gula Nusantara recorded losses of Rp680 billion in 2025 amid similar market pressures.
At the farm level, molasses prices fell to around Rp1,000 per litre in March 2026 from Rp1,900 previously. The volume of unabsorbed farmers' sugar was estimated at 1.6 million tonnes, with potential losses of Rp4 trillion to Rp7 trillion, and the marketing crisis triggered protests including demonstrations in Blora, Central Java.
Amran said the government would strictly enforce Agriculture Ministerial Regulation No. 98/2013, which requires sugar processors to own plantations supplying at least 20 percent of their raw material needs. The article says only one of Indonesia’s 11 operating refined sugar producers has met the requirement since 2014, while the other 10 depend entirely on imported raw sugar without owning plantations.
Amran said all private sugar companies and importers must comply with plantation development requirements, and the policy has support from Commission VI of parliament. The article says lawmakers endorsed the requirement after a joint meeting in April involving officials from the agriculture, trade and industry ministries and state-owned trading companies.
Source note
Read the official announcement for the underlying details.