Indonesia targets white sugar self-sufficiency by 2026

hartono · Nov 8, 2025

Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Andi Amran Sulaiman (second right), Minister of Investment and Downstreaming and CEO of Danantara Rosan Perkasa Roeslani (second left), Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sudaryono (left), Deputy Head of the State-Owned Enterprises Regulatory Agency (BP BUMN) Aminuddin Ma'ruf at a press conference in Jakarta, Friday (11/7/2025). ANTARA/Harianto

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia aims to achieve self-sufficiency in white sugar by 2026 as part of a national drive to strengthen food security and revive the country’s once-thriving sugar industry, Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman said on Friday.

“Next year we will be self-sufficient in white sugar,” Sulaiman said after a meeting on the Plantation and Industry Downstream Program with Investment Minister Rosan Perkasa Roeslani and Danantara CEO Rosan Perkasa Roeslani at the Agriculture Ministry.

The government targets full self-sufficiency in consumer sugar within three to four years by increasing sugarcane productivity and modernizing mills.

Sulaiman said the initiative marks a key step in strengthening the plantation sector and promoting economic independence amid global challenges.

He said the government aims to restore Indonesia’s sugar industry to its “glory days” of the 1930s, when the country was the world’s second-largest sugar exporter and producer after Cuba. “We will restore that glory,” he said.

The plan will be supported by downstream investment worth Rp371 trillion ($22.2 billion) in plantations, livestock, and horticulture, including cocoa, cashews, coconuts, and sugarcane.

The Agriculture Ministry has drafted a National Sugar Self-Sufficiency Roadmap that targets consumer sugar independence by 2028 and total self-sufficiency — including industrial and bioethanol needs — by 2030. President Prabowo Subianto has urged the ministry to accelerate that timeline.

Sugar output in 2025 is expected to reach about 2.75 million tons, the highest in five years, from roughly 538,000 hectares of plantations.

To achieve self-sufficiency, the government plans to intensify production by clearing 275,000 hectares of ratoons by 2027, introducing improved seeds, upgrading irrigation systems, and expanding sugarcane plantations by 500,000 hectares. Ten sugar factories will also be built or reactivated in Java and other regions.