Hot Mr. Jokowi! Menipis Rice Stock, BPS Sends An Import Rail Open Signal

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reports that there has been a decline in the national rice stock which is the main source of Indonesia's food reserves.

Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics, BPS Setianto, said this situation caused pressure in line with the momentum of religious holidays and the 2023 new year.

"Dari faktor supply serta demand, secara umum produksi beras nasional pada kuartal IV akhir tahun ini mengalami koreksi, tepatnya terjadi penurunan produksi di bulan Desember, ujar dia saat menggelar konferensi pers pada Kamis, 1 Desember.

According to Setianto, this situation needs the government's great attention. The reason is, food commodities are one of the sectors that contribute significantly to inflation. Moreover, the trend of food inflation continues to rise in the midst of the decline in the impact of rising fuel prices.

For this reason, Setianto recommends that the government be able to find short-term solutions quickly, such as imports, to ensure that the national rice stock remains safe.

"So it needs to be considered or occurs, maybe storage for rice stocks nationally," he said.

Based on information compiled by the editors, the stock of rice owned by the Logistics Affairs Agency (Bulog) as of November 25, 2022 is 600,000 tons. This figure is believed to continue to run low until the end of the year in line with the increasing demand. Meanwhile, the ideal amount of Bulog's rice stock is 1.2 million tons at the close of 2022.