Rare And Expensive Premium Rice, Zulhas Invites People To Buy Bulog Production

Minister of Trade Zulhas (Photo: dock. Ministry of Trade)

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan or Zulhas invites the public to temporarily switch to consuming market operating rice or Stabilization of Supply and Food Prices (SPHP) distributed by Perum Bulog.

This invitation was conveyed by Zulhas because the price is currently experiencing a surge. Moreover, he said, many modern retailers are reluctant to sell premium rice, resulting in scarcity.

"So I hope people turn to SPHP, because if premium the goods are going up, and the goods are not as needed," he said at Transmart Cempaka Putih, Jakarta, Monday, February 19.

According to Zulhas, with the shift in public consumption to Bologist SPHP rice, the availability of premium rice supply that currently exists will be sufficient.

Furthermore, Zulhas said this transition would also slowly reduce the price of premium rice due to the balance between the amount of supply and demand.

"So if you switch to SPHP then I think premium will be enough, because some of it can be supplied with SPHP rice by Bulog," he said.

Previously, it was reported that Zulhas did not deny that there was a price spike and the scarcity of premium rice, especially in modern retailers. In fact, the price is already above the highest retail price (HET).

Zulhas said the price of premium rice has reached the range of Rp. 72,000 to Rp. 80,000 per 5 kg. Meanwhile, the HET of premium rice is Rp. 69,500 per kg.

I checked the price of rice. In the modern retail market, the supplier for premium prices has gone up. So some modern retailers don't take it, because the purchase is already above the HET. Some retailers still take the sale above HET," he said at Trasmart Mall Kota Kasablanka, Jakarta, Monday, February 19.

Seeing this condition, continued Zulhas, the government also took steps by accelerating the distribution of rice market operations or Stabilization of Supply and Food Prices (SPHP) through Perum Bulog.

The government took a solution to speed up the SPHP rice from Bulog. We saw the SPHP, right, that's the price of course the subsidy price. He sold it for 5kg Rp. 54,000. There is already a profit in it," he said.

According to Zulhas, because the price of SPHP rice is stable and the supply is guaranteed by the government, many people have switched from premium rice to SPHP.

Karena premiumnya naik pindah SPHP, akhirnya SPHP cepat habis. Jadi di sini ada kurang, ada yang masih ada, ada yang kurang. Ini yang nanti yang akan kita rapatkan. Sehingga nanti supplynya bisa ditambah, jelasnya.