Trade Minister Budi Ensures Rice Prices Are Stable And Sufficient Supply

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso ensures that rice is one of the strategic food commodities whose price is currently controlled and stable at the national level.

This was conveyed by the Minister of Trade Busan after the Coordination Meeting (rakor) for Rice Price Control at the Ministry of Agriculture Office, Jakarta on Monday, October 20.

"We together with the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Food Agency will continue to maintain sufficient rice supply and prevent price spikes in the market," he said in an official statement, Monday, October 20.

Furthermore, Budi said the government continues to strive to maintain food price stability through market operations and other stabilization measures.

"The government wants to ensure the availability of supplies and affordability of prices for basic necessities, including rice, for people throughout Indonesia," said Budi.

Budi said that in production centers such as West Java, Central Java, and East Java, the price of medium rice is still below the Highest Retail Price (HET), which is around Rp. 11,200 to Rp. 11,800 per kilogram (kg).

However, the national average rice price is still slightly above HET, mainly due to distribution factors in eastern regions such as Papua, Central Papua, and Papua Mountains.

"If we look at it per region, some areas are now under HET. In the past, almost everything was above HET, but now the trend is decreasing. This condition shows improvement in distribution and effectiveness of market interventions. However, in the eastern region, distribution is still a major challenge," he explained.

In the coordination meeting, Budi conveyed several recommendations and steps to control rice prices. First, optimizing the distribution of rice Stability of Supply and Food Prices (SPHP) which is focused on people's markets as the center of economic activity for the lower middle class.

Second, continued Budi, collaboration in the distribution of SPHP. Third, continuing the implementation of the Cheap Food Movement (GPM) in various regions as an effort to reduce strategic food prices. Finally, strengthening supervision through field monitoring and utilizing data on the Market Monitoring and Basic Needs Monitoring System (SP2KP) openly to detect regions early with potential price increases.

"We open public access to data on prices for basic necessities so that all parties can monitor market conditions in a transparent manner. That way, interventions can be carried out quickly in areas that are observed to experience a significant price increase," he said.

Budi explained that the Ministry of Trade continues to monitor the prices of basic goods daily through SP2KP. This data is collected from officers in all regions and used by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) as a reference in calculating food inflation.

This SP2KP data is always updated every day. We have complete price monitoring, both at the regional, national, and based on eastern and western regions of Indonesia," said Budi.

Not only rice, other basic necessities were also observed to be stable under HET. The national average price of chicken is currently in the range of IDR 39,000 per kilogram, down from IDR 47,000 per kilogram some time ago.

Some time ago, the price of chickens was at the level of Rp. 33,000 to Rp. 34,000 per kilogram. Now, around Rp. 39,000 per kilogram. This price condition is still relatively stable and reasonable nationally," he explained.

Meanwhile, the price of large red chilies is currently recorded at around Rp52,800 per kilogram, or still below the previous average price of Rp56,000 per kilogram.

Some time ago, the price of chili had risen to Rp73,000 per kilogram. Now, the price of chili has gradually dropped and moved stably. This means that the trend of chili prices shows improvement," he said.