Bulog Calls Tan Long Vietnam Company Never Wins Tender Directly Imports Rice

Illustration (Photo: Doc Antara)

JAKARTA - Perum Bulog has denied inflating the price of imported Vietnamese rice from the Tan Long Group company.

The company has never won the direct tender for rice imports from Bulog.

Director of Supply Chain and Public Service of Perum Bulog Mokhamad Suyamto emphasized that the issue of inflating imported rice prices was not true. Bulog also does not have a contract with Tan Long Group.

"The Tan Long Vietnam company that is reported to have made rice offerings has actually never made an offer since the 2024 bidding was opened. So it does not have the obligation to import contracts with us this year," said Suyamto in an official statement, Friday, July 12.

Bulog's rebuttal is in line with a statement from the President Director of Ton Long Group Troung Sy Ba explaining that since 2023 until now, his company has never won direct tenders from Bulog.

"In the history of Bulog rice tenders, from 2023 until now, we have never won any direct tender from Bulog," he said, quoted from Vietnam's online news report, CAFEF.

Truong Sy Ba said that referring to the tender package on May 22, Bulog announced where Loc Troi won a 100,000 tonnes of rice tender.

However, Tan Long bid at a higher price, 15 US dollars per ton so as not to win the tender.

"In May, we once offered the sale of 100,000 tons of rice at a price of 538 US dollars per tonne, the price of the FOB. However, compared to the price of the Loc Troi company, the price from the TLG is higher so we don't participate," said Truong Sy Ba.

For your information, Perum Bulog currently gets an assignment to import 3.6 million tons of rice from the government in 2024.

In the period January to May 2024, the number of imports has reached 2.2 million tons.

Imports are carried out by Perum Bulog on a regular basis by looking at the national balance sheet and prioritizing the absorption of rice and grain in the country.

By the end of June, Perum Bulog had absorbed 800,000 tons of domestic rice and was optimistic that it could absorb 1 million tons of rice, according to the set target.