Indonesia's corn production increases and imports will be flat

Lead: Jakarta, June 27 (Reuters) - Indonesia's corn imports are likely to remain at the level of 1.1 million to 1.2 million tons this year, according to local industry sources on Thursday, as a small increase in local corn production helps meet the needs of the domestic feed industry Budiarto subijanto, President of the Indonesian Association of feed processing plants, said that the demand for local feed processing plants had reached 3 million tons so far this year, up from 2.75 million tons in 2001 But fortunately, Indonesia's domestic corn production has increased this year, so he expects imports to be the same as last year According to the latest prediction of Indonesia Central Bureau of statistics, the corn production in Indonesia is expected to reach 9.55 million tons in 2002, higher than 9.35 million tons in the previous year, due to the improvement of planting area and productivity Subijanto expects Indonesia's commercial feed production to reach 5.75 million tons in 2002, up 10% from 2001 Traders say the stronger rupiah will help the per capita consumption of poultry and thus feed industry The IDR was at 8685 / 8700 to the dollar on Wednesday afternoon, compared with 10390 to the dollar at the end of last year But imports haven't increased much, said a trader in Jakarta, because this year's corn harvests in Lampung and dongzhaowa are quite good These two areas are also the main corn producing areas in Indonesia Imported raw materials account for 50-60% of Indonesia's animal feed.