Indonesia Arrival 10 Thousand Tons Of Imported Rice, Bulog Boss Make Sure Price Stability

JAKARTA - Perum Bulog imports 200,000 tons of rice from Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan. A total of 10,000 tons have arrived in Indonesia from Vietnam, and the rest will enter in stages which is targeted to be completed on December 24 or one day before the 2022 Christmas celebration.

President Director of Perum BULOG Budi Waseso ensures that the arrival of imported rice can maintain the stability of rice prices in today's market. This was conveyed by Budi while reviewing the initial expansion of imported rice arrivals at Tanjung Priok Port (PTP) with the Minister of Trade, Head of the National Food Agency and several related stakeholders on Friday, December 16. "The price stability of rice in the market can be maintained by increasing the stock of Government rice reserves controlled by BULOG through the entry of imported rice that has just arrived today," he said in an official statement. Buwas, nickname Budi Waseso said that until the end of December 2022, 200.000 tons of imported rice will enter to increase government rice reserves to 14 port points in Indonesia. The ports are Malahayati Port and Lhokseumawe (Aceh), Belawan (Medan), Dumai Bayur Bay (Riau), Boom Baru (Palembang), Panjang (Palembang), Tanjung Priok (Jakarta), Merak (Banten), Tanjung Perak (Surabaya), Tenau (Kupang), then the rest will be realized next year until before the main harvest. Budi said the rice that had just arrived in Vietnam as much as 5,000 tons that entered through Tanjung Priok Port and 5,000 tons through Merak Port. "Alhamdulillah, today BULOG received an additional stock of Government rice reserves of 10,000 tons for the first imported vessels from Vietnam and will continuously increase because many imported ships from Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar that were already queuing will dock," he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan said the amount of rice to be imported was as much as 500,000 tons which would enter in stages until February or before the harvest. "Actually, no one wants to import if the stock is sufficient, but in the last few months the price of rice skyrocketed and BULOG's stock for Market Operations has decreased, so stock from abroad is needed to reduce the increase in rice prices," said Zulhas as Zulkifli Hasan's nickname. Similarly, the Head of the National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi said that the import of this rice was not BULOG's wish but the result of a decision of two times the Rakortas in order to increase the government's rice reserve stock in order to maintain price stability in the market. "If necessary, this imported rice will be disbursed in order to face Christmas and New Year so that there is no price fluctuation," said Arief. Arief emphasized the policy of procuring rice from abroad solely to strengthen national rice reserves. This policy taken would not interfere with farmers' rice because it was only used at certain conditions. "Such as disaster management, price intervention if necessary, and several other government activities," he said.