Eight firms win Bulog's rice tender<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Eight companies have been awarded contracts by
\nthe State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to import a total of 526,000
\ntons of rice between now and December, the government announced
\non Friday.<\/p>\n
The agency has agreed to buy the rice from one local company
\nand seven foreign companies at prices ranging between US$267.25
\nand $278.80 per metric ton for free on board (fob) delivery and
\nbetween $283 and $293.60 per ton for cost and freight (c&f).<\/p>\n
Contracts to import 600,000 tons of rice had initially been
\nput out to tender, but the agency was unable to secure the full
\namount because of poor terms offered by the bidding companies.<\/p>\n
Bulog official Mohamad Ismet said the agency would open up a
\ntendering process for contracts to import the remaining 74,000
\ntons of rice next week.<\/p>\n
Companies able to deliver the rice in October would be given
\npreference, Ismet added.<\/p>\n
"All companies, including those just awarded contracts and
\nthose disqualified on technical grounds, can submit tenders again
\nnext week," said Ismet, who is the head of Bulog's foreign
\nprocurement department.<\/p>\n
Prices submitted in bids next week must not exceed the price
\nrange offered by companies awarded contracts on Friday, he said,
\nadding that the government would consider purchasing more than
\n74,000 tons if the price was right.<\/p>\n
The eight companies contracted to import the rice are Cargill
\nInc. of China, Siam Rice Trading and Soon Hua Seng of Thailand,
\nOrco International and Petronas (Malaysian Trading) of Malaysia,
\nKin Sun Co of Hong Kong, Ascot Commodities of the Netherlands and
\nPT Stelkon of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Local firm PT Dharma Jagat Raharja was the only company still
\nin the running on Friday morning that was not awarded a contract.<\/p>\n
The selection process started last Monday, when tenders
\nsubmitted by 50 companies were scrutinized by a Bulog team. All
\ntenders had to include a number of documents, including bank
\nreferences and letters from the relevant embassies in the case of
\nforeign firms.<\/p>\n
A final decision was delayed until Friday, one day later than
\nwas initially planned, because Bulog's preference price was well
\nbelow the prices quoted by tendering companies, which ranged
\nbetween $274.25 and $310.25 per ton.<\/p>\n
Minister of Industry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan, who is Bulog's
\nacting chairman, rebuffed criticism of the slow and complicated
\nway in which the tender was conducted.<\/p>\n
"Just let me negotiate in a smart way," he told reporters at
\nhis office on Friday.<\/p>\n
Thailand's Siam Rice Trading won the largest import contract.
\nIn December it will ship 110,000 tons of rice from Thailand at
\n$290.50 per ton.<\/p>\n
Orco International was awarded a contract to deliver six
\nshipments of rice from China, Myanmar and Vietnam totaling 98,000
\ntons between now and December.<\/p>\n
Petronas will deliver two shipments of rice from China
\ntotaling 100,000 tons in November and December. The shipments
\nwill be charged at $283.80 (c&f) and $289.50 (c&f) per ton
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
Soon Hua Seng will deliver 60,000 tons, Cargill 38,000 tons,
\nAscot 60,000 tons, Kin Sun 30,000 tons and Stelcon 30,000 tons.<\/p>\n
The government initially planned to import 3.6 million tons of
\nrice in the 1998\/1999 financial year, although it later revised
\nthis amount to 4.1 million tons.<\/p>\n
It has signed contracts with foreign governments to import 2.4
\nmillion tons of rice, some of which has already been delivered,
\nand has said that a further 1.2 million tons will be purchased
\nthrough a competitive international bidding process, including
\nthe 600,000 tons put out to tender earlier this week.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the government announced on Friday that it would
\nstart distributing rice at the subsidized price of Rp 1,000 (9
\nU.S. cents) to a further 17 million poor families across the
\ncountry on Oct. 1. The program currently embraces 7.3 million
\npoor families. (das\/gis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/eight-firms-win-bulogs-rice-tender-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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