Entering The Harvest Season, Rice Prices Will Drop Soon

JAKARTA - Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi revealed that rice prices will fall in the near future. This decrease in rice prices is in line with the entry of the main harvest season in the country.

For your information, this year's first harvest season will start in early March 2024 until the end of March 2024.

Currently, continued Arief, there are a number of areas that have started harvesting. Among them, Lamongan, Tuban, Bojonegoro, Sragen, Ngawi, Demak, Grobogan, Lampung, to South Sumatra.

Furthermore, Arief predicts that this time the national rice production produced is quite high. In fact, the figure reaches 3 to 3.5 million tons, exceeding the national consumption needs.

"It is necessary to submit a national expansion update, prices will begin to be corrected as the harvest runs, the figure is 3-3.5 million tons from our needs of 2.5 to 2.6 (million tons)," said Arief at the Food Supply and Price Security Coordination Meeting Ahead of Fasting and Eid al-Fitr, at the Kempinski Grand Ballroom, Jakarta, Monday, March 4.

Apart from the stock side, Arief said the price of harvested dry unhulled rice (GKP) also affects the selling price of rice in the market. Arief said that if the price of unhulled rice is around Rp. 8,000 per kilogram (kg), the price of rice in the market will be Rp. 18,000 per kg.

"We always say that it is easy to calculate it, Mr. Minister, Gunbernur, ladies and gentlemen, if the price of unhulled rice is Rp. 8,000-9,000, so the price of rice is only a factor of 2, so the price of rice is Rp. 18,000," he said.

Now, continued Arief, there has been a decrease in the price of unhulled rice by around Rp. 600 per kg. From Rp. 8,000 per kg to around Rp. 7,400 per kg.

"And today, once the price of unhulled rice is Rp. 7,000 (per kg), the rice will automatically be corrected by around Rp. 2,000, so the figure is Rp. 14,000, back to HET (Highest Retail Price)," he said.