Rice Import Polemic, Trade Minister Lutfi: Don't Blame Other Ministers, Just Blame Me

JAKARTA - The government's plan to import 1 million tons of rice has resulted in a polemic. Many parties are against the plan. Therefore, the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi admitted that he was ready to resign from his position if he took the wrong policy regarding rice imports.

Lutfi said that the reason behind the opening of the plan to import 1 million tons of rice was that the reserve rice stock at Bulog (The Indonesia Logistics Bureau) had reached its lowest point and needed to be anticipated.

Furthermore, Perum Bulog (a Government-owned Company), as an extension of the government to maintain food price stability, is tasked with maintaining a rice stock of 1 million-1.5 million tons. He emphasized that this is the principle upheld by the government.

The procurement mechanism can be done through local and international procurement. Lutfi said, if there was sufficient absorption in the country, there was no need to apply an import policy. Like in 2019 and 2020.

Entering the main harvest season, he assessed that the absorption of grain by Bulog was not optimal. As of March 2020, the absorption of unhulled rice equivalent to rice by Bulog has only reached 85 thousand tons. According to Lutfi, Bulog should have been able to absorb at least 400 thousand-500 thousand tons of grain equivalent to rice.

However, said Lutfi, the low absorption was not entirely Bulog's fault. Because there are rules that must be obeyed by Bulog in buying farmer's grain. One of them, the maximum water content of the grain is 25 percent, while the condition of grain is quite wet because of the high rainfall that has occurred since the beginning of the month.

Lutfi emphasized that the import figure of 1 million tons of rice is also an estimate. The government will pay attention to the dynamics that occur in the future. If it has to import, the import figure can exceed or be less than 1 million tonnes.

"Or not at all (imports)", he said.

Will not import during the main harvest

Lutfi emphasized that he would not import rice during the harvest season. He said the import quota was prepared in advance to meet the readiness of Bulog's rice stock reserves.

"I guarantee that there will be no imports of rice during the main harvest season, and today there will be no imported rice that will destroy the farmers. Because there is no import yet", he said in a press conference, Friday, March 19.

Lutfi said the proposal to import 1 million tons of rice through Bulog was based on his concern over the dwindling stock of CBP.

Furthermore, Lutfi emphasized that he did not intend to frighten the public with the threat of scarcity of rice and high prices. This is because rice is the most important food commodity in Indonesia and is vulnerable to becoming a target for speculators if the stock is running low.

"We are talking about iron stock. If it is fulfilled, it will not be imported. It is my job to think of something that has not been thought of. This is what I do. I am not scary. There are a lot of coefficients, if there is anything, you can blame me", he said.

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The import policy has been in place since 2020

In a meeting with the House of Representatives Commission VI, Lutfi explained that the import option had been decided before he became Minister of Trade in December 2020. At that time, there were minutes of a cabinet meeting asking Bulog to have reserves of iron stock for 2021.

"Before I arrived (appointed Minister) on December 23, there were already minutes of the meeting at the cabinet level, meaning that it was higher than the coordination meeting. "So when I came I only counted the amount", he said in a meeting with the House of Representatives Commission VI, Monday, March 22.

The rice import plan has indeed received approval at the level of several Ministries, including the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Trade. Even though there has been no realization to this day, said Lutfi, this issue has made the price of unhulled rice at the farmer level plummet.

Ready to resign if take the wrong policy

Before the House of Representatives Commission VI, Lutfi admitted that he was ready to quit his position if the decision to import 1 million tonnes of rice was wrong. He said the decision was taken through careful calculations related to the availability of rice in Perum Bulog.

"I have to think about the unthinkable, I have to make decisions on unpopular decisions, I face them. If I am wrong, I am ready to quit, there is no problem, but my job is to think about what the ladies and gentlemen do not think about", said Lutfi.

Previously, Lutfi also said that if anyone was to blame for the upheaval that occurred due to the rice import policy, blame him. Especially about differences of opinion among the ranks of ministry/agency officials who have been arrested by the public so far.

"I ask for help if there are differences. I ask. I will try to be fair. So don't blame the Coordinating Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, don't blame the Bulog director. Blame me", he said in a virtual press conference, Friday, March 19.

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