970,000 tons of imported rice to arrive soon<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): At least 970,000 tons of rice imported by the
\nState Logistics Agency (Bulog) will arrive in several ports
\nthroughout the country by the end of the year, Minister of
\nIndustry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan has said.<\/p>\n
Rahardi, who is also Bulog's acting chairman, said that the
\nagency has received the names of the ships that will deliver the
\nrice to the Indonesian ports in November and December.<\/p>\n
\"With the notification of their readiness to transport the
\nrice, I expect that our rice stock for the upcoming Christmas,
\nNew Year, Ramadhan, Idul Fitri and Imlek (the Chinese New Year)
\nfestivities, will be more than enough to meet the demand,\"
\nRahardi told a press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n
He added that the rice had been procured from several
\ncountries under government to government agreements regarding
\nfood aid and commercial purchases.<\/p>\n
Rahardi said that the government has secured import contracts
\nand aid commitments for 3.15 million tons of rice, or nearly 80
\npercent of the 4.1 million tons which will be procured by the
\ngovernment from overseas markets during the year, as of October.<\/p>\n
The minister, however, did not disclose the total volume of
\nrice which had been shipped to Indonesia this year.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the government said that it planned to
\nimport 4.1 million tons of rice in the 1998\/1999 fiscal year,
\nwhich ended in March, to meet the shortage in supply caused by
\nharvest failures resulting from a prolonged drought.<\/p>\n
Rahardi said that Bulog's rice stocks stood at 2.38 million
\nmetric tons as of the end of October, enough to meet the domestic
\ndemand until the end of this year.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Food Affairs and Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin
\nsaid Bulog's rice stock could reach 3.74 million tons by the end
\nof this year, far above the safe stock target of 2.5 million tons
\nset by the Central Bureau of Statistics.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the same press conference, Saefuddin said that the
\ngovernment was going to expand its scheme to provide the poor
\nwith heavily-subsidized rice in a bid to anticipate the soaring
\nprice of rice during the December\/January low-harvest period.<\/p>\n
\"Starting next month the low-priced rice allocated for the
\npoorest families will be raised to 20 kilograms every month per
\nfamily, and the price will remain Rp 1,000 per kg,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In July, the government launched a program to provide the
\ncountry's poorest families with 10 kg of medium-quality rice
\nevery month for Rp 1,000 per kg. The same grade of rice is sold
\nfor Rp 2,500 per kg in the market.<\/p>\n
The program, called the special market operation, is designed
\nto cover at least 7.5 million families across the country.<\/p>\n
Rahardi said that the government has distributed over 125,000
\ntons of the subsidized rice to over 10 million of the poorest
\nfamilies as of Nov. 12.<\/p>\n
\"The program will end in March of next year when the condition
\nof our food production is back to normal,\" he said. (gis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/970000-tons-of-imported-rice-to-arrive-soon-1447893297",
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