THE bird flu laboratory in Subang, West Java, is targeted to become a reference laboratory in Southeast Asia

THE bird flu laboratory in Subang, West Java, is targeted to become a reference laboratory in Southeast Asia. “This laboratory is the best in Indonesia, even in Southeast Asia, with international standards, ” said Agriculture Minister, Anton Apriantono in Subang, last month.

The building of the laboratory cost 1.7 billion Japanese yen and will also be used to test other diseases caused by animals including swine flu. It is located in Werasari Village, Dangdeur District in Subang. The funding for this laboratory came from the Japanese community.

For now, the laboratory is being used for veterinary studies and examinations, and is controlled by a masters degree chemical studies graduate who is assisted by 16 veterinarians and paramedics.

Livestock Director General of Agriculture Department, Tjeppy D. Soejana, said it was planned to have 50 more members of staff in the near future. 

INDIA’s rice bran oil producers, A.P. Solvex Limited and Sethia Oils Limited plan to build a factory to produce that commodity in Indonesia.

The two companies want to build a processing and refining plant with a production capacity of 600 tons per day to cost 300 million rupee (US$6.34 million).

Chairperson and managing director of A.P.Solvex A.R. Sharma said so far rice bran has been used mainly for animal feed in Indonesia. Rice bran oil contains vitamins, antioxidant and nutrients good for human consumption, Sharma was quoted as saying by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia.

THE government has guaranteed that stocks of basic necessaries are enough for the fasting month which this year started on Saturday, August 22, 2009.

We had enough stocks of basic necessaries and good distribution of the commodities in the run up to the fasting month of Ramadhan," Bayu Krisnamurthi, deputy to the chief economic minister, said. Stocks, distribution and prices of certain basic necessaries such as cooking oil, sugar, rice and other commodities are relatively secure. The price of sugar, however, is showing an upward trend. "With regard to basic necessaries, we will continue to monitor them, including their prices and distribution or their importation," Krisnamurthi said.

The rice stock at Jakarta`s Cipinang Main Rice Market or PIBC is deemed sufficient to be supplied to consumers in Jakarta for the fasting month. The rice stock at the PIBC, built up with supplies from rice producing regions.

In the meantime, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said the government will not launch a market operation during the fasting month to keep down the prices of basic necessaries. "No market operation will be launched. But it is true we will organize bazaars in coordination with all regions," she said. If there is a surge in the prices of basic necessaries prior to the post-fasting month festivities, the ministry would soon check whether it is caused by declining stocks or poor distribution. "If the prices soar because of traders’ speculations we must take measures against them. And if the surge in the prices of basic necessaries is caused by poor distribution we must take other steps," she said.

Normally, producers of basic necessaries increased their stocks by 20 percent or even more during the fasting month of Ramadhan. The prices of basic necessaries such as cooking oil, wheat flour, and sugar have increased ahead of the fasting month. 

Based on data from the Cooperatives and Trade Service, Jakarta has about 105,000 tons of cooking oil stocks, 120,000 tons of rice, 55,000 tons of eggs, 65,000 tons of sugar, 35,000 tons of meat and 275,000 - 300,000 tons of vegetables.

Source: Poultry Indonesia