Jakarta. The national food agency Bapanas said Tuesday that farmers and ranchers would not need to worry about the government's plan to lift the import quota as Indonesia would only be buying foreign agricultural products that were still insufficient.

President Prabowo Subianto recently floated a plan to get rid of the import quota as a means to improve the country's business climate. The quota also came as one of Indonesia's strategies to appease US President Donald Trump's looming reciprocal tariffs. Bapanas chief Arief Prasetyo Adi said that the import would only target insufficient food commodities once the quota gets lifted.

"For instance, beef. Our domestic beef production is still not enough to meet our demand," Arief said in Jakarta, as reported by the state news agency Antara.

According to Arief, Indonesia intends to give more opportunities for importers by scrapping the import quotas. This way, it would not only be one or two companies that could bring foreign food commodities into the country. 

"So don't jump to the conclusion that we will open up all import. That's not it," Arief said.

Indonesia's beef and buffalo meat supplies are expected to reach 617,300 tons this year, below the national consumption of 766,900 tons, according to Bapanas. Southeast Asia's largest economy also only consumes up to 2.6 million tons of soybeans but only has around 392,000 tons. Data shows that Indonesia only has 110,000 tons in garlic supply. The national garlic consumption reaches 622,000 tons per year.

"We will prioritize domestic production. We will only procure [food commodities] from abroad if the local supplies are insufficient. Imports are the last option," Arief said.

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