Ahead Of The Rice Price Election Continues To Soar, The Coordinating Ministry For The Economy Opens Up

Gold Price (Photo: Antara)

The Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs (Kemenko Perekonomian) revealed rare reasons and high rice prices in recent times.

For information, based on the price of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Tuesday, February 13, 2024. The price of premium rice currently reaches Rp. 15,830/kg, even though the Highest Retail Price (HET) ranges from Rp. 12,900 to Rp. 14,800 per kg. Meanwhile, medium-type rice reaches Rp. 13,900 per kg much higher than the HET is only around Rp. 10,900 to Rp. 11,800 per kg.

Head of the Communication, Information Services and Trial Bureau of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy Haryo Limanseto said that the scarcity and increase in rice prices were influenced by the withdrawal of the planting season.

According to Haryo, the decline in the planting season has had a major impact on reducing rice production capacity from January to March by 37 percent compared to the same period in 2023.

"Until this position, the 2024 period, from January to February, is estimated to reach March 5.8 million tons. It has decreased by around 37 percent compared to the same period in 2023, due to the withdrawal of the planting season," said Haryo to the media crew, Tuesday, February 13.

Haryo said other factors came from the procurement of imported rice which is still in process due to a global geopolitical conflict, thus affecting the availability of domestic rice.

Haryo said another factor was the high price of world fertilizer due to the delay in the supply of fertilizers due to the Russian-Ukraine war. Then, the disruption of the global supply chain, due to conflicts in the Sues Canal, which disrupted the world's food supply, including Asia.

"So these things are disturbing, so the price of fertilizers, global fertilizer raw materials affect imports, the same as the distribution," said Haryo.

Previously, Chairman of the Indonesian Retail Entrepreneurs Association (Aprindo) Roy N Mandey said that currently retailers are starting to have difficulty getting local premium-type rice supplies with 5 kg packaging.

According to Roy, the limited supply of rice is due to the fact that the harvest period is not yet starting, which is expected to only occur in mid-March 2024.

In addition, Roy said, the scarcity occurred because the government had not yet entered the medium type rice (SPHP) imported by the government.

"This situation and unbalanced condition between supply and demand has resulted in an increase in the HET of rice in the modern retail market (market) and the people's market (traditional market)," he explained.

According to Roy, currently retail entrepreneurs are forced to buy rice at prices above HET rather than local rice producers or suppliers. This, he said, led to an increase in rice prices at the retail level.