Bapanas Head: SPHP Rice Prices Unchanged, Maximum Purchase of 5 Packs

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) and Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman has emphasised that prices for Stabilisation of Supply and Food Prices (SPHP) rice will not increase, with a maximum purchase limit of five 5-kilogramme packs. “There is something called SPHP. This is rice for balancing if anyone wants to raise prices. For SPHP, we are not increasing it. The price remains as it is now. So now the quality is good because the fertiliser is good, on time, in the right volume, and the water is good,” said Amran when confirmed in Jakarta on Friday. The SPHP rice programme will continue to be implemented with the same highest retail price (HET) as before. The provision of a maximum purchase limit of 25 kilogrammes per consumer is also still necessary to avoid unfair practices. Amran emphasised that SPHP rice prices remain the same as before. This is important because SPHP rice is an intervention to balance rice prices in the market. Realisation throughout March was recorded at 70.01 thousand tonnes. Meanwhile, realisation from early April to 23 April has reached 69.85 thousand tonnes or 99.77 percent, slightly exceeding the previous month’s realisation. To address the challenge of plastic packaging availability for SPHP rice, Bapanas has also discussed it with Bulog. The proposal to use SPHP rice packaging stock for 2023-2025, around 12.3 million sheets from Bulog, can be implemented as long as information on quality class, brand, HET, and other important information remains consistent with the product inside the packaging and through strict supervision.