Indonesia has no plan to cancel rice imports<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Trade and Industry Jusuf Kalla said
\non Tuesday the government had no plans to cancel rice import
\ncontracts despite the sharp drop in rice prices in the domestic
\nmarket.<\/p>\n
\"We still need to import rice because our local production is
\nstill insufficient to meet the demand,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Kalla, also the chairman of the State Logistics Agency
\n(Bulog), was commenting on Minister of Agriculture M. Prakosa's
\nstatement about the government's plan to temporarily halt rice
\nimports.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's import of rice is estimated to reach 1.5 million
\ntons this year, far below last year's figure of 4.8 million tons.<\/p>\n
The country imported 4.8 million tons of rice in the 1998\/1999
\nfiscal year ending last March because of a series of harvest
\nfailures largely attributed to bad weather.<\/p>\n
The country's annual rice demand is estimated at 32 million
\ntons, including 27 million tons for consumption, three million
\ntons for industrial use and two million tons as a reserve for
\nBulog. But domestic output is estimated at only around 30 million
\ntons.<\/p>\n
Minister of Agriculture M. Prakoso said on Tuesday that the
\ngovernment should temporarily halt rice imports to stablize the
\nrice market.<\/p>\n
\" Government intervention is still needed to protect the
\nfarmers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Kalla said the government was aware that the influx of
\nimported rice had caused a sharp drop in rice prices in the
\ndomestic market.<\/p>\n
But he insisted that contracts that had been concluded could
\nnot be cancelled, otherwise Indonesia's credibility in the market
\nwould be damaged.<\/p>\n
The price of rice has dropped sharply within the last two
\nmonths due to the influx of cheaper imported rice. The drop in
\nprice has also caused a sharp decline in the price of unhusked
\nprice, to below Rp 800 per kilogram, or less than the cost of
\nfarming.<\/p>\n
The government, through Bulog, has been committed to buying
\nunhusked rice at a price of Rp 1,400 per kilogram in an attempt
\nto push up the its price to a more realistic level, but the
\nprogram is not really working as most of the cooperatives
\nassigned to buy unhusked rice from farmers have received no
\nfunding from Bulog.<\/p>\n
The government also has decided to impose a 30 percent duty on
\nrice imports beginning in April to protect the farmers, but the
\nmove is considered too late because the rice harvest will reach
\nits peak this month.<\/p>\n
An analyst from the Econit Advisory Group, Arif Arryman,
\nblamed the government for its slow response in dealing with the
\nrice problem.<\/p>\n
He said the delay in the procurement of unhusked rice by Bulog
\nhad caused a steep fall in the rice price in some producing areas
\nto below Rp 500 per kilogram, or much lower than the farming
\ncost.<\/p>\n
\"The current government is too slow in responding to the
\nproblem. It is not giving any attention to the problem and has no
\nclear policy. Even the Soeharto regime did better in this case
\nthan the current government,\" he told a news conference.<\/p>\n
According to Kalla, Bulog will spend about Rp 6 trillion this
\nyear for procuring unhusked rice from local farmers for national
\nstockpiles.<\/p>\n
Bulog has spent Rp 600 billion buying five million tons of
\nunhusked rice in the last two weeks alone but the procurement
\nseems unable to soak up the glut in the market due to the
\nbumper harvest in several provinces. (cst)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-has-no-plan-to-cancel-rice-imports-1447893297",
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