Putting 20 % tariff on wheat flour import a while ago, Indonesia plans to extend this temporary tariff indefinitely. It has been declared that Indonesia’s trade ministry will propose extending the temporary 20 percent emergency tariff on wheat flour imports indefinitely. Asia’s top importer of grain aims to protect its expanding wheat mill industry with these tariffs. Indonesia imposed an emergency tariff on wheat flour imports for 200 days on December 5 to allow the government to complete an investigation into imports and the impact on domestic mills. “On June 20 the temporary safeguard duty on wheat flour will expire and we will offer it to be determined as a definitive safeguard duty,” told Bachrul Chairi as the director general of foreign trade at the trade ministry to Reuters. Chairi added that the proposal will be sent to the Indonesian Finance Ministry, who will make the final decision. Turkey is the largest exporter of wheat flour to Indonesia, accounting for about 60 percent of the country’s total imports of 402,000 tons last year. Sri Lanka follows Turkey with an amount of around 30 percent in wheat flour export. Temporary emergency tariffs are allowed under World Trade Organization rules if a country can shows a threat of serious damage to its domestic industry from an unexpected flood of imports. Industry officials in Turkey have said they could bring the case against Indonesia at the WTO if the import tariff is made permanent. The Indonesian Wheat Flour Mills Association (APTINDO) said earlier this year that the import tariff may be extended by up to three years. In his statement on 18th July, Chairman of APTINDO Franciscus Welirang said that the Indonesian government has notified the WTO about its plan to extend the import tariff on June 5 and he added that negotiations with governments who opposed the move are ongoing.