Two Indonesian state plantation firms failed to secure white sugar for the second time in a tender seeking to buy a total of 113,700 tonnes, because suppliers did not meet specifications, said tender officials on Monday.
The tender was part of Indonesian plans to bring in 450,000 tonnes of white sugar for household consumption this year to bridge an anticipated production shortfall. PTPN X planned to buy 90,000 tonnes and PTPN XI the rest. "We disqualified tender participants because they can not meet the required specification," said Irawan Basjar, tender official from PTPN X.
Some of the specifications that participants failed to meet including not mentioning grain size or not being able to deliver bulk shipments. Others said they could only deliver near the end of the expiry date for the tender on April 15, an official said. The firms also failed to secure sugar in the first tender on January 25 because of the same problem.
The firms will now move to direct negotiation for obtaining the sugar, said a second tender official, without giving details on timing. Indonesia's government influences sugar prices by issuing import permits for different types of sugar, effectively restricting the inflows of cheaper sugar into the country.
It has maintained import duties on sugar, while suspending them this year for rice, wheat and soybeans in an effort to improve supply of foods that could add to inflationary pressures. Imports of white sugar for household consumption can only be carried out outside the cane crushing season which normally runs from May to November to prevent imported sugar from ruining sugar prices produced by farmers.