Bapanas: Government Efforts to Address Food-Related Plastic Supply Issues
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Food Agency (Bapanas) has affirmed that the government is continuously working to source plastic raw materials in order to curb the impact of cost increases on national domestic rice and sugar prices.
Deputy for Food Availability and Stabilisation at Bapanas, I Gusti Ketut Astawa, confirmed in Jakarta on Wednesday that government measures are underway to address the shortage of plastic raw material supplies affecting the food sector.
“The government is not standing idle or waiting; it is actively seeking solutions. Hopefully, in the near future, this issue of plastic raw material shortages can be resolved effectively,” said Ketut.
He stated that the government is not remaining passive and is pursuing various solutions, with the hope that the shortage of plastic raw materials can be optimally addressed in the near future.
Ketut explained that coordination for handling this issue has been entrusted to the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry to accelerate the search for alternative supply sources that can maintain national food price stability.
“We are initially entrusting this to our colleagues in the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Industry as well,” he said.
Not only the government, continued Ketut, but plastic producers are also moving in tandem to ensure the availability of plastic raw materials. The possibilities are likely targeting opportunities from oil-producing countries.
“Everyone is acting; businesses are not idle, they will seek and are already trying to find those opportunities. Whether from Russia or other countries besides the Middle East. Oil producers are the actual sources of plastic supplies,” explained Ketut.
He further elaborated that the rise in plastic raw material prices impacts production costs for food businesses, particularly for rice and sugar commodities.
He mentioned that his agency has held several meetings with stakeholders, including rice, sugar, and packaged food businesses, to discuss the impact of geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East on plastic supplies.
Based on preliminary calculations, the impact on rice prices is estimated at around Rp300 per kilogram, while for sugar it is smaller, at around Rp100 to Rp150 per kilogram, although these are still rough estimates.
“We have indeed calculated roughly. For rice, it’s nearly around Rp300 per kilogram impact. But for sugar, it’s relatively smaller, around Rp100 to Rp150. This is still rough, not yet detailed. It might even be lower than that,” he clarified.
In Bapanas monitoring, Ketut reported that the movement of national consumer sugar prices over the past month, both in western and eastern regions of Indonesia, has experienced adjustments but remains reasonable, with an increase of about 1.94 percent.
He noted that the national average price of consumer sugar over the past month was recorded at Rp18,412 per kilogram (kg), rising slightly to Rp18,770 per kg on 20 April.
Nevertheless, projections for domestic white crystal sugar production from April to May will begin to increase. From around 58.3 thousand tonnes, it will rise to 276.4 thousand tonnes, which should help dampen prices.
Meanwhile, the average price of medium rice over the past month fluctuated by only 0.29 percent, and premium rice by 0.37 percent.
The national average price of medium rice a month ago was Rp13,378 per kg, becoming Rp13,417 per kg as of 20 April. For premium rice, from Rp15,640 per kg to Rp15,698 per kg.