Where Does Indonesia Import Corn From?

Based on data from Indonesia's Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), Indonesia imported 503,000 tons of corn valued at US$109.9 million between January and October 2018. Of this amount, 238,000 tons, or almost half, originated from Argentina. The second largest corn import came from the United States, reaching 183 million tons, or 36.4% of the total imports.

To suppress corn prices at the farmer level, the government will soon issue permits for the import of 30,000 tons of corn this year. Previously, the government had also opened the import tap for 100,000 tons of corn through an assignment to Perum Bulog. The increase in corn prices has impacted the price of animal feed, leading to higher prices for chicken meat and eggs.

Based on the Ministry of Agriculture's projection in the 2017 Outlook for Food and Horticultural Crops, corn production in 2019 reached 29.92 million tons. Meanwhile, corn consumption for industrial raw materials was 11.1 million tons and for animal feed 4.2 million tons. Household consumption amounted to 405,000 tons, and industrial raw materials accounted for 5.9 million tons. Seed requirements totaled 113,000 tons, and losses reached 1.5 million tons. This means there was a surplus of 6.67 million tons.