INDONESIA: Prices of export commodities will be under pressure in 2016

Chief of the Indonesian Farmers Association Henry Saragih predicted that in 2016, prices of several Indonesian export commodities in the international market would be difficult to rise.

In fact, he said that Indonesia still relies on a number of export commodities such as coffee, palm oil, and rubber. "At the end of 2015, the prices of rubber… continued to fall,” Henry said on 1 Jan. 2016. According to Henry, prices of those commodities have made farmers suffer from financial losses because the increased export volumes that are not followed by the increase in prices would in fact make the farmers suffer. "Our farmers are not in an advantageous position. Actually, they are now under pressure,” he added.

Henry added that pressure on prices of rubber would continue in 2016 because the size of rubber plantations in Indonesia is smaller than the size of plantations in neighboring countries. According to him, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos are currently making innovations and planting hundreds hectares of land with rubber plants.

Source: Daily “Tempo”, Jakarta; 2 Jan 2016
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)