Sukabumi, West Java (ANTARA News) - The government is considering imposing duties on imported milk to enable local dairy farms to compete with foreign rivals, a minister said.
"We have requested the WTO (World Trade Organisation) to press advanced countries to lift subsidy for their dairy farms soon," Agriculture Minister Anton Apriantono said here Sunday.
He said the national milk output which averaged 342 thousand tons per year was well below demand due to the low productivity of local dairy cows.
In 2005 alone, the national milk output represented 26 percent of demand which reached 1,306 thousand tons, he said.
The lower milk output meant that the prospects for the country`s dairy farms were promising, he said.
"The main problem facing the local dairy farms is the gap between the quality set by the government and the quality of local dairy products. Consequently, the dairy products of low quality are rejected by dairy industries," he said.
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