REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Susi Pudjiastuti, said she has not banned salt imports, but urged importers not to import beyond what is needed because if they do, it will hurt domestic farmers.

"Importers must absorb salt produced by farmers in the country," she said on Saturday.

Pudjiastuti said the current problem was the lack of transparency with regards to the quota and the actual amount of imports.

This had created difficulties for salt farmers in the country, who had so far worked very hard in various regions and also led to a failure of development in the domestic industry, she said.

Minister Pudjiastuti added that she could not understand why importers wished to import the product while they could very well source it from the domestic production.

As a result, the government plans to revise a Trade Minister Regulation regarding the rules for salt imports.

"The Minister of Trade will meet with the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources to finalize it. We want a clear definition of industrial salt," the acting Director General for Overseas Trade, Karyanto Suprih, said on Friday.

He said the draft of the regulation is expected to be finished in August and he wished the new regulation would be simpler and provide options of recommendations for importers.

"The implementation will be discussed later," he said.

The government plans to revise the salt import regulation to increase the absorption of salt produced by farmers in the country.

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