Indonesia has imported 12000 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 162500 tonnes of sugar from Thailand Angola and Brazil to bolster its depleted stocks. Indonesias 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.
INDONESIA IMPORTS 12,000 TONNES CUBAN SUGAR