Trade Ministry Advances Strategic Commodities Bill, Rejects Creation of New Agency

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — Indonesia moves forward with the Strategic Commodities Bill, a national framework intended to unify and strengthen the governance of high-impact commodities across ministries, as Trade Minister Budi Santoso signals firm support for the legislation while rejecting the formation of any new special-purpose agency.

In a written statement released on Friday, Nov 28, 2025, the minister said the bill would provide “a strong, comprehensive, and integrated guideline” for designing policies covering downstream development, exports, and imports. He emphasized that the government needs a single, coherent legal foundation to manage commodities that have strategic implications for prices, food security, industry, and national supply chains.

The minister noted that although the definition of strategic commodities remains sector-specific across ministries, interministerial coordination has been functioning for years, particularly through the Commodity Balance mechanism that governs import decisions.

He stressed that import decisions for essential goods such as rice, corn, fish, and garlic cannot be issued unilaterally by the Ministry of Trade. “For commodities like rice, corn, fish, or garlic, every import decision must go through the Commodity Balance. The Ministry of Trade cannot issue a permit until there is agreement on demand and production projections from the supervising ministries,” Budi said.

The minister also underscored that Indonesian trade representatives abroad will continue to promote all products with export potential, including strategic commodities, as part of the broader effort to expand market access overseas. Strengthening export diversification, he noted, is an essential part of maintaining national competitiveness.

He further explained that coordination is equally vital in trade negotiations with partner countries. Any national stance taken to the negotiation table, he said, must be the product of a unified interministerial process. “Every trade negotiation with partner countries is always based on a national position that is jointly agreed upon by all supervising ministries. The substance of the negotiation is the outcome of cross-ministerial coordination,” he said.

Budi reiterated that the proposed bill is meant to serve as a national guideline for strategic commodity governance and not as a mandate to create new bureaucratic layers. Instead, he called for strengthening the technical roles of existing institutions. “There is no need for a new agency, but we must strengthen the duties and functions of existing units within the relevant ministries so that institutional overlap does not occur,” he said.

The minister added that the government plans to finalize the bill in close coordination with ministries overseeing agriculture, industry, marine affairs, energy, and trade, given their stake in shaping downstream policy, food security, and supply-chain resilience. The improved framework is also expected to support ongoing efforts to harmonize regulations, prevent contradictory policies, and ensure consistency between national strategic priorities and sectoral mandates.