Jakarta's diplomatic rift with Canberra over phone bugging accusations threatened to widen yesterday after the Indonesian trade minister said the country was looking elsewhere for food imports.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last week ordered the suspension of military and police co-operation over the politically sensitive issue of asylum seekers using Indonesian territory to sail to Australia.
"There are other places that I think can help us with our food security aspirations," Gita Wirjawan said. "We are looking at those possibilities."
Reports last week quoted documents leaked by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Australia's intelligence services had tried to eavesdrop on the telephone conversations of Yudhoyono, his wife and other top officials.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, is a major importer of Australian wheat, live cattle, beef and some raw sugar. Australia is Indonesia's 10th-largest export market.
Gita, who has already begun his campaign for next July's presidential election, said he had asked parliament to look into regulations that limit imports from certain countries.