INDONESIA IMPORTS 12,000 TONNES CUBAN SUGAR
Indonesia has imported 12,000 tonnes of
refined sugar from Cuba to meet consumer demand in the province
of South Sulawesi, the head of the provincial food agency said.
    The imported sugar was needed because two of three sugar
refineries in the province have been temporarily shut down. It
arrived in the provincial capital of Ujungpandang today and
will be distributed to markets in the province, the food agency
official said.
    Indonesia used to be a sugar exporter but last year it
imported 162,500 tonnes of sugar from Thailand, Angola and
Brazil to bolster its depleted stocks.
    Indonesia's sugar cane production last year was expected to
rise significantly but domestic sugar consumption has soared
because of rising demand by the food processing industry, the
head of the food logistics agency, Bustanil Arifin, has said.
    The government has forecast that sugar production in
calendar 1987 would increase 30.2 pct to 2.59 mln tonnes from
1.99 mln in 1986 but industry sources doubt whether the target
could be met due to persistent post-harvest handling and
transport problems.
 REUTER
