REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NAGOYA -- Trade Minister Rachmad Gobel has urged people to not question the government's decision to issue permits for the importation of raw sugar for industries.

"This is being done to meet the need for sugar for food and beverage industries. So importing the commodity is not a problem," Gobel said at the Tokyo Train Station before leaving for Nagoya to accompany President Joko Widodo during his visit to the Toyota factory on Wednesday.

He added that by importing raw sugar, they aimed to produce refined sugar that is required in food and beverage industries.

The Trade Ministry has issued permits to import 940 thousand tons of raw sugar to meet the demand of refined sugar industries in the second quarter of this year.

"We have issued permits to import 940 thousand tons of the commodity," Secretary-General of the Trade Ministry Gunaryo affirmed on Tuesday.

The plan to import 940 thousand tons of raw sugar was implemented to meet refined sugar industries' demand as they supply refined sugar to food and beverage producers, he added.

The imports were also aimed at fulfilling the need for raw material of food and beverage industries ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which will fall in July 2015, he remarked.

Earlier, the Industry Ministry had recommended that the Trade Ministry issue permits to import 1.5 million tons of raw sugar for the second and third quarters of 2015.

"It is true. We made the recommendation," he stated.

The suggestion was to meet the raw sugar needs of domestic food and beverage industries, particularly to meet demand in the run-up to the Eid al-Fitr holiday this year.

The Trade Ministry licensed the importation of 600 thousand tons of raw sugar to meet the demand during the January-March 2015 period.

He pointed out that raw sugar imports will reach 2.8 million tons this year, lesser than the 3.2 million tons proposed by the Indonesian Association of Refined Sugar Producers.

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