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Unusually heavy rain is expected to delay the sugar milling season by three weeks until late May, but the supply of the commodity is unlikely to be disrupted, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said on Friday.

Achmad Mangga Barani, the ministry’s director general of plantations, said the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had predicted that the unusually heavy rain would continue through early May, when most farmers and sugar plantations begin to harvest cane, delaying the milling for several weeks.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, most state-owned sugar companies were expected to begin milling on May 25.

The milling season is expected to end in November or early December.

Moreover, the heavy rain is expected to have damaged the harvest by reducing the sugar content of the cane. About 60 percent of the country’s sugar cane plantations are located in Java, Achmad said.

Achmad said the government’s decision in December to allow state companies to import 500,000 tons of white sugar would help ensure there was enough sugar through early May.

“After that, we really will depend on the weather to harvest the cane. Hopefully it will dry,” Achmad said.

Because of the unfavorable weather, the government has predicted that national sugar output this year is likely to be below the previously projected 2.9 million tons.

Adig Suwandi, corporate secretary of state-owned PT Perkebunan Nusantara XI, echoed Achmad’s comment, saying the company will likely start milling late this year.

Last year, Indonesia produced 2.67 million tons of sugar but consumed almost double that amount — 4.85 million tons.

The government is aiming for the country to become self-sufficient in sugar by 2014 to deliver permanently lower prices.

It said late last year that around 50 new sugar mills would be required to meet its goal.

Annual national demand for sugar is forecast to rise to 5.7 million tons by 2014.