Rahardi cancels planned tender for rice imports<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) announced on
\nTuesday that it had canceled a plan to hold a tender for rice
\nimports due to a sudden rise in international prices.<\/p>\n
Minister of Industry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan, who is also
\nBulog's chairman, said rice prices on the international market
\nrose by between US$5 to $10 per metric ton following the recent
\ndisclosure of Bulog's plan to import rice.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia, as the biggest rice buyer, is a price determiner
\nin the international market. Any plan or move we make about
\nimporting rice affects prices. So we must be very careful because
\nwe do not want the price to go up again,\" he said in a hearing
\nwith the House of Representatives Commission III for agriculture,
\nforestry and plantations, and food affairs.<\/p>\n
He said that China had stopped trading its rice on the
\ninternational market following the report that Indonesia was
\nabout to import rice in a move to lift prices.<\/p>\n
Rahardi said Indonesia would need to import at least two
\nmillion tons of rice in the 1999\/2000 fiscal year to meet
\ndomestic demand.<\/p>\n
He said Bulog would soon resume importing rice in anticipation
\nof declining domestic supplies in the coming months.<\/p>\n
\"But I cannot reveal the amount to be imported or when imports
\nwill be made. Once again it's a sensitive matter.\"<\/p>\n
Rahardi said the agency would use a loan provided by the
\nIslamic Development Bank (IDB) to procure rice through a
\ntendering process.<\/p>\n
He said IDB had provided $190 million in financial aid, of
\nwhich $63.37 million had been used to import 277,000 tons of rice
\nin the last fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\"With the remaining $126.63 million, we can procure around
\n500,000 tons of rice from the international market at $250 per
\nton,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Rahardi added that the government had also secured 115,000
\ntons in rice aid through the PL-480 program of the U.S
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
\"We have also obtained $200 million in export credit from the
\nChinese government to buy rice from that country and we have also
\nsecured 200,000 tons in rice aid from the Taiwanese government,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Bulog announced last week that it would open a tender for rice
\nimports later this month. However, the agency said the quantity
\nof rice in the tendering process had not yet been set because it
\nwas still assessing local supplies.<\/p>\n
Imports will be made from Egypt, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand,
\nMyanmar, China and Taiwan.<\/p>\n
Rahardi said Bulog had over 910,000 tons in rice stocks which
\nwere imported in the 1998\/1999 fiscal year. The stocks have
\nstarted to run out and the agency needs to replenish its
\nsupplies.<\/p>\n
He said rice stocks were expected to decrease in September and
\nDecember due to the low harvest season.<\/p>\n
Additional supplies will enter the market only in January when
\nthe main harvest season starts, he said.<\/p>\n
Rahardi said the agency had procured about 1.5 million tons of
\nrice from local farmers, part of the two million ton targeted for
\nthis year.<\/p>\n
The agency concluded import contracts for 5.3 million tons in
\nthe last fiscal year, which ended in March, but only 4.8 million
\ntons have been delivered due to difficulties in payment. The
\nremaining will be shipped in this fiscal year.<\/p>\n
More than half of the imports was financed by foreign grants
\nand loans.<\/p>\n
Rahardi said the agency had 53,000 tons of sugar, 80,000 tons
\nof wheat flour and 96,000 tons of soybeans in stock as of July
\n12.<\/p>\n
\"The stocks will be released gradually onto the market. We
\nexpect the stocks will be exhausted by September since by then we
\nwill no longer handle the trading of those commodities,\" he said.
\n(gis)<\/p>",
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