Wamentan: Global Rice Prices Drop Because Indonesia Stops Imports

Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan) Sudaryono. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

KARAWANG - Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan) Sudaryono claimed that the Indonesian government's decision to close import taps had an impact on the decline in commodity prices at the global level.

The main subscriptions and those who buy the most, don't import anymore, namely Indonesia. So that's the factor that Indonesia does not import this rice, for this world rice commodity it is very influential, because we are import customers with the largest quantity," he said during a visit at the Rice Mill Center (SPP) Karawang, West Java, Thursday, May 15.

Sudaryono said Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest volume of rice imports. Therefore, he continued, when the government decided to close the import tap, the producing country experienced an oversupply.

"As soon as (Indonesia) is not imported, they are oversupply, once the oversupply (price) drops," he said.

According to Sudaryono, Indonesia is also not affected by the decline in global rice prices. He also said that all rice needs can be met from within the country.

"We are not affected by the price of our rice with world rice, because we produce all of it domestically, so there is no problem. We are abundant, so the challenge is like this. This is called a good problem, it's better if we have abundant harvests, we are confused about finding solutions, rather than harvesting, there are no goods," he said.

Sudaryono said that the government is currently focusing on absorbing domestic crops. In fact, he continued, Bulog's warehouse condition was full.

The chairman of the Bulog Supervisory Board also said the storage area was expanded. Given that this year's harvest is much more than expected.

"Even already rented a warehouse, already borrowed a warehouse, already the warehouse is the police, the warehouse is the army that is not used, even the village head's warehouse, if there is a warehouse in the village, we have combed all the warehouses so we can absorb more. We have done that, but it turns out that there are more harvests in the village," he said.