RI's Rice Stock Reaches 4 Million Tons, Observer: This Is Actually A Personal Challenge For Bulog

agricultural observer of the Indonesian Political Economy Association (AEPI) Khudori said that the RI rice stock which reached 4 million tons brought a number of homework (PR) that had to be completed by Perum Bulog.

Khudori said that the big homework arose because basically rice was a commodity that did not last long. Ideally, rice is only stored for four months. More than that, rice must be distributed immediately to avoid potential decline in quality, and even damage.

"The rice stored in the warehouse as a dead stock/static stock requires routine maintenance. The longer the storage, the greater the cost of treatment. This will burden Bulog as a corporation," Khudori said in a written statement in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Monday, June 2.

The next big homework is how to distribute this jumbo rice stock from Bulog's warehouse, considering that the shelf life of the rice continues to grow and is increasingly vulnerable to quality decline.

Khudori said that currently there are at least hundreds of thousands of tons of rice aged 9-14 months and tens of thousands of tons aged more than 14 months. In order not to decrease in quality and decrease in volume, even damaged, the rice needs to be distributed immediately.

Khudori said that with a stock of 4 million tons, Bulog must be able to distribute 2.8 million tons so that the remaining stock at the end of 2025 is 1.2 million tons.

He said, with only seven months remaining of distribution, Bulog had to distribute at least 400 thousand tons of rice every month.

"This figure is a big challenge, considering that throughout its history, Bulog rarely reaches the distribution rate of 400 thousand tons per month for market operations, assistance, and others," he said.

President Prabowo Subianto has issued Presidential Instruction Number 6 of 2025 concerning the Procurement and Management of Domestic Rice/Government Rice Reserves and the Distribution of Government Rice Reserves, March 27, 2025.

In the Presidential Instruction, Bulog rice outlets are widespread, starting from the SPHP; food assistance, including foreign food assistance; disaster emergency response; for the TNI/ASN/Polri and the Free Nutrition Food program; as well as the local government CBP, even for social assistance.

According to Khudori, in order to be executed, this regulation needs to be followed up more concretely in the form of derivative rules by ministries/agencies.

The derivative regulation is to ensure that there are large amounts of Bulog rice outlets, at least 2.8 million tons. This distribution is also to reduce, thankfully it can reduce rice prices (medium and premium) which have been stalled on the HET for months," he said.

The rice stock in Bulog's warehouse penetrated 4 million tons on May 29, 2025. Of that amount, 2.4 million tons came from the absorption of domestically produced grain/rice. The rest are the remaining rice stocks at the end of last year, most of which came from imports.