Jakarta, Nov 20 - Indonesia aims to export sugar next year as it expects to run up a domestic stock surplus of more than 2 million tonnes in 2008, Bayu Krisnamurthi, deputy to the chief economics minister, said on Thursday.
"We must be able to export sugar. I think we need to seriously look at the export opportunities in 2009," Krisnamurthi told reporters.
He said the increase in production of both white sugar and refined sugar would result in a stock surplus by year end.
Indonesia is expected to produce 2.9 million tonnes of white sugar in 2008, up 11.5 percent from last year's 2.6 million tonnes, the agriculture ministry has said.
Krisnamurthi said the country's white sugar output may grow by about 5 percent in 2009.
The Indonesian Sugar Council has projected domestic sugar stocks, including production from local cane plantations and imports of other types of sugar, will reach 6.2 million tonnes this year, exceeding consumption of 4.9 million tonnes.
Although Indonesia's imports do not form a large part of world sugar trade, they have contributed to a tighter global market.
Indonesia consumed 4.19 million tonnes of sugar in 2006, or less than 3 percent of global sugar consumption of 151.72 million tonnes, data showed.