NO NEED TO IMPORT UREA FERTILIZER IN 2009 : DPI

Jakarta, March 5 (ANTARA) - Indonesia will not need to import urea fertilizer in 2009 as the domestic fertilizer production target of seven million tons is likely to be met, the Indonesian Fertilizer Council (DPI) said.

"Ir appears the production target of seven million tons of urea fertilizers this year will be easily achieved because there is enough gas supply. The seven million tons are enough to meet domestic consumption so that there is no need to import the commodity," DPI Chairman Zaenal Sujais said after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla here on Wednesday.
Previously, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had given the green light for the importation of a maximum of 500,000 tons of urea fertilizers.
Zaenal said importing fertilizers should be a last resort, namely if production at home was not enough to meet domestic demand for the commodity.
"Importing fertilizers should be carried out only if there is no other way. At the same time, we also need to educate farmers so that they will not be so wasteful in using fertilizers," he said.
At the meeting, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the problems with regard to fertilizers would be difficult to overcome unless production at home was enough.
Zaenal said the fertilizer production target of seven million tons this year was expected to be easily achieved because there was sufficient gas supply to fertilizer factories.
On the occasion, the DPI chairman had proposed that the government build a coal-fired bio-organic fertilizer factory because coal was easy to obtain.
Zaenal said a coal-fired bio-organic fertilizer plant was 10 times less costly to build than other types of fertilizer factory.
A 600,000-ton- capacity fertilizer factory would cost US$350 million to build while a bio-organic fertilizer factory would only need an investment of US$30 million.
"The vice president welcomed the proposal but it will take time to realize it," he said.