Govt to review fertilizer prices in April 2010
November 23rd, 2009 | by rarzi |Visiting Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono said here on Friday the government would review domestic fertilizer prices in April next year.
“Fertilizer prices in the country will be reviewed in April 2010 because the amount of state budget funds to subsidize them has decreased,” the minister said.
The minister is in Rome, Italy, to accompany Vice President Boediono to attend a World Food Summit.
The minister is also attending a United Nations Organization of Food and Agriculture (FAO) conference from November 18 to 23, 2009 in Rome.
On the sidelines of the conference , Suswono also took time to meet his counterparts from Norway, New Zealand, and Australia.
He said fertilizer subsidy next year would drop from Rp17.5 trillion to Rp11.3 trillion, but if there was an additional subsidy in the amended 2010 State Budget, the subsidized fertilizer prices would probably not be raised.
“If there is no additional subsidy and the amount of fertilizer subsidy remains unchanged, the highest retail prices will probably be raised, but the rise will be balanced with a rise in the government`s rice-purchasing price. Thereby farmers will not suffer any loss,” Suswono said.
He said the highest retail price of fertilizer had risen by 50 percent while the government`s basic rice purchasing price rose by only 10 percent so that farmers would have a minimum rise in their income of Rp700,000 per hectare.
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