JAKARTA - The government has officially set the Bulog State Enterprise fee margin at 7 percent to support the one-price rice program.
The determination of this figure is below the proposal of Perum Bulog, namely 10 percent.
Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan revealed that this agreement had been approved through calculations by the Ministry of Finance together with the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) and other related ministries/institutions.
"It is calculated that between the Minister of Finance, from BPKP to meet the 10 percent figure requested, but it was agreed that 7 percent would take fees. This is mainly to ensure that the price of rice is one price throughout Indonesia," he said in a press conference at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture Office, Jakarta, Monday, January 12.
Zulhas, who is familiar with the nickname, said that Perum Bulog has only received a margin fee of Rp50 per kilogram (kg) from each assignment given by the government. In fact, this figure has not changed since a decade ago.
Furthermore, Zulhas said, Bulog's margin has been too small and does not support the company's operations, even to pay employees.
"That's why we just finished so that Bulog was given a role to take advantage of like before. Now Bulog doesn't take anything. Only Rp50, so for his salary sometimes it's less, not enough," he said.
On the other hand, Zulhas said, the government wants the price of rice in all regions to be the same as the price applied to fuel oil (BBM).
"We want the price of rice to be the same as the others, one price. Like gasoline. Whether on Java, outside Java, the price is the same," said Zulhas.
Therefore, he said, the government will bear the cost of transportation in the scheme for distributing rice at one price.
He emphasized that this policy was being tried to be comprehensive so that the eastern region would no longer be burdened with higher prices.
"Well, we will try to make rice one price in 2026 wherever it is. Don't let, for example, East Indonesia pay more expensive," he said.
Previously, the President Director of Perum Bulog Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani said that so far Bulog has only received a margin of Rp50 per kilogram (kg) of rice that has been distributed in the context of the CBP assignment.
Rizal said the nominal had never increased for the past 11 years since 2014. He assessed that the margin was no longer ideal to support Bulog's mandate in maintaining the stability of food supply and prices through market operations.
Therefore, continued Rizal, Bulog proposed that the margin be increased to 10 percent of the purchase price of rice at Bulog warehouses.
"Well, originally it was approved at 7 percent, originally 7 percent increased the margin. However, we asked, it would be better, we are equal to other SOEs, 10 percent, both Pertamina and PLN," said Rizal when met at the Bulog Office, Jakarta, Monday, December 29.
In carrying out the CBP assignment, continued Rizal, Bulog must first absorb grain or rice from farmers at the government purchase price (HPP). For the financing of this procurement, Bulog relies on loans from the national bank consortium (Himbara).
Rizal said that after the rice was stored in warehouses as CBP and distributed through market operations, social assistance, food assistance, and disaster assistance, Bulog only received payment from the government. During this process, Bulog still bears the burden of bank loans.
According to Rizal, with a small margin, the payment made later, and the accumulation of interest costs, Bulog has the potential to continue to record losses. In 2025, Bulog is projected to incur losses of up to Rp900 billion.
However, Rizal continued, if the margin increase is approved to 10 percent, then Bulog will have the potential to book profits of up to IDR 2.1 trillion.
"Once the margin is declared to have increased by 10 percent, it will automatically increase to Rp. 2.1 trillion," said Rizal.
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