Hundreds of Indonesian sugarcane farmers gathered on Thursday to witness 3,450 tonnes of smuggled sugar being burned on an island near the capital city Jakarta on Thursday.
Smuggled sugar recently forced local prices below the farm gate price, hurting sugarcane farmers and prompting importers to consider scaling back operations.
"The sugar must be destroyed to maintain the stability of local prices. It is not being auctioned to the poor because we need to raise the deterrent effect as a lesson to smugglers," Trade and Industry Minister Rini Suwandi said.
Some legislators had called for the sugar to be distributed to the needy instead of being destroyed. Indonesia is among the world's largest importers of commodities such as sugar and rice.
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