Due to shortages of materials for wheat flour and palm cooking oil products from their respective exporting nations, the govt. of Indonesia has added measures to ensure that production of the two products can continue.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many nations implementing lockdown policies to further curb the spread of the disease. This has inadvertently led to a shortage of supply in certain goods essential to the economy. In response to a shortage of supply of materials needed for wheat flour and palm cooking oil, the Indonesia government has added more measures to ensure that the production of these products can continue without interruption.
Wheat Flour
In regards to the lock-down policy applied by Malaysia and India due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fulfillment of premix for fortified substances in wheat flour that fulfills the quality requirements of the Indonesian National Standard (鈥�SNI鈥�) 3751:2009 Wheat Flour in Indonesia has been difficult. Malaysia and India are, thus far, the only SNI compliant suppliers of premix for wheat flour.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry has issued Circular of the Minister of Industry No. 5 of 2020 on Temporary Exemption for Addition of Fortified Substances in Wheat Flour (鈥�Circular 5/2020鈥�), which came into force on April 7, 2020.
Circular 5/2020 stipulates that, while waiting for the supply of wheat flour premix to Indonesia to stabilize, the mandatory implementation of SNI for wheat flour as stipulated under the Regulation of the Ministry of Industry No. 59/M-IND/PER/7/2015 on The Implementation of SNI for Wheat Flour as Food Material (鈥�Permenperin 59/2015鈥�) is temporarily exempted for the addition of premix to wheat flour as follows:
- Fe
- Zn
- Vitamin B1
- Vitamin B2
- Folic acid
It should be noted that the use of packaging with the label "containing Fe Zn Vitamin B1 Vitamin B2 Folic Acid" is declared to remain in force until 31 December 2020.
Palm Cooking Oil
Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted international trade and impacted the fulfillment of raw material for palm cooking oil in Indonesia, which is generally fulfilled from imports. Currently experiencing continuity constraints is the raw material of Vitamin A and/or Pro-Vitamin A that is compliant with the quality requirements of SNI 7709:2019 Palm cooking oil.
Therefore, the Ministry of Industry has issued Circular of the Minister of Industry No. 6 of 2020 on Temporary Exemption to the Content of Vitamin A and/or Pro-Vitamin A in Palm Cooking Oil (鈥�Circular 6/2020鈥�), which came into force on April 7, 2020 until December 31, 2020.
Under Circular 6/2020, while waiting for the supply of Vitamin A and/or Pro-Vitamin A to Indonesia to stabilize, the mandatory implementation of SNI for palm cooking oil as stipulated in Regulation of the Ministry of Industry No. 46 of 2019 (鈥�Permenperin 46/2019鈥�) is temporarily exempted to the content of Vitamin A and/or Pro-Vitamin A in palm cooking oil.