Meeting Suddenly Stopped Halfway, the 2026 Food Commodity Balance Sheet Could Not Be Determined

JAKARTA - The determination of the 2026 Food Commodity Balance Sheet has been delayed again. This is because the meeting held at the Coordinating Ministry for Food and Agriculture had to be suspended in the middle of the road because a number of technical ministers were not present.

This delay is not the first. Last week, a similar meeting was also canceled for the same reason, namely the absence of several related ministers.

For information, the meeting was originally scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. WIB. A number of officials from related Ministries/Institutions were present in the meeting room. It was also seen that there were also Coordinating Minister for Food and Agriculture Zulkifli Hasan, Trade Minister Budi Santoso and Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti.

However, at around 15.03 WIB, Coordinating Minister for Food and Agriculture Zulkifli Hasan was seen leaving the meeting room accompanied by Trade Minister Budi Santoso. When approached, Zulkifli Hasan was reluctant to explain the results of the meeting.

"Later, the Deputy Minister and Mr. Tatang will convey the results of the meeting," he said when met at the Coordinating Ministry for Food and Agriculture Office, Jakarta, Tuesday, December 16.

Meanwhile, the Deputy for Coordination of Trade and Food Distribution of the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Tatang Yuliono, explained that the meeting only discussed the issue of rice, especially regarding the proposal to import rice for industrial needs.

He said, Tatang said that the ministers who were not present in today's meeting were the Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, and the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono.

"So at the meeting there were several questions about rice, especially rice. The proposal for industrial-use rice, because we can meet it, so the proposal from friends at the Ministry of Industry, while we don't give it (import permit), we can all be self-sufficient," he said.

"It's not wrong that the proposal is around 380,952 tons. Then we don't give it for imports, we will fill it from within the country, maybe that's it, one thing related to rice," continued Tatang.

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Meanwhile, said Tatang, discussions on other commodities such as sugar, wheat, and meat have not been able to be carried out because the meeting was not attended by all related ministers.

"Not yet, it will be postponed, there are several ministers such as the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Forestry and Environment who are not present, so this will be suspended again until the ministers of industry and the Minister of Forestry and Environment are present," he said.

Tatang said that there were several commodities that had been decided at today's meeting. However, he did not specify what commodities.

"Next week we will schedule again, those ministers who are not present will be scheduled next week, today I was asked to explain about rice first," said Tatang.