Bulog Expected To Immediately Handle Soybean Trade

Denpasar, Bali, Aug 28 (Antara) - The state-owned Board of Logistics (Bulog) is expected to immediately take control of soybean trade and put an end to instability in the market of the food commodity. The price of soybean has surged lately triggering a repeat of public uproar when producers of soybean tofu and fermented soybean cake known as tempe in the country agree to suspend production in protest of the price hike and scarcity of supply of soybean several months earlier. "The government has not learned from experience or they are not serious enough to address the problem faced by small entrepreneurs," a tempe producer said. Soybean cake and tofu are popular food products in the country produced by small and cottage industries. The government has repeatedly rolled over the deadline when the country is to be self sufficient in soybean, and programs have been announced to expand soybean plantations, but in the end they acknowledge failure, citing a number of reasons. Fearing that the soybean issue could make a big headline again the government with a presidential instruction allowed Bulog to regain its control of soybean trade to guarantee supply and price stability. "Action should be taken to follow up the presidential instruction to prevent the price of soybean from climbing higher now reaching Rp9,200 from normally Rp7,200 per kilogram," Sutrisno, chairman of the Bali branch of the Indonesian Association of Soybean Cake and Tofu Producers (KOPTI) said here on Wednesday. Sutrisno said he had reached an agreement with the Bali branch of Bulog to work together in the procurement of soybeans for local soybean cake and tofu producers. "Bulog has not been able to work immediately on the presidential instruction as it is still waiting for the necessary licenses from the industry and trade ministries," he said. He said with Bulog in charge, soybean procurement would be better guaranteed and stocks would be easier to be controlled and set to forestall the market. Currently general importers are free to imports soybean after the government stripped Bulog of its monopoly right in trade of essential commodities including soybean. Now the price is left to be dictated by the market, entirely depending on supply and demand. Sutrisno said Bali relies on imports for 85 percent of its soybean requirement with local producers accounting for only 15 percent. Head of the Bali office of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS)Gde Suarsa has said Bali`s soybean production fell 293 tons or 3.45 percent in 2012 from the previous year.