Beddu says Bulog holds enough commodity stocks

Beddu says Bulog holds enough commodity stocks

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the National Logistics Agency
(Bulog), Beddu Amang, gave assurances yesterday that his agency
holds sufficient stocks of commodities to see the country through
the coming festive season.

Beddu told journalists at his office that people should be
able to enjoy the festivities without food price increases, which
usually occurs as festive season approaches.

The upcoming major festivities in Indonesia include this
month's Christmas and year-end fiestas, as well as Chinese new
year and the Islamic fasting month and Idul Fitri holiday, which
will fall early next year.

"Everything is secured: rice, flour, sugar. Their prices are
currently stable. If they begin to fluctuate heavily, we will
immediately intervene in the market. If necessary, we will import
such commodities," Beddu said after inducting 49 officials at his
office, five of whom are of the first echelon.

The newly-inducted officials are not new to Bulog. Under
Presidential Decision No. 51/1995, dated July 15, 1995, all Bulog
employees automatically became civil servants, paid by the
government. Yesterday's ceremony was held to mark the change in
the officials' status.

Beddu reported that his agency has earmarked 90,000 tons of
crude palm oil (CPO), the main raw material for cooking oil, for
the coming festivities. The amount is much lower than last year's
figure of 150,000 tons.

"This is the first phase only. This amount of CPO is used as
buffer stocks to maintain CPO prices at the current level of Rp
1,400 (61 U.S. cents) a kilo," Beddu said. "And we have been able
to keep the current level of CPO prices for more than one month."

Last June, Bulog required CPO producers to contribute part of
their production to the buffer stock at a government-set price in
order to support its market operations to bring down cooking oil
prices to Rp 1,400 per kilogram from nearly Rp 2,000 by this
month.

Rice

Beddu also reported that Bulog's rice stocks, the country's
main diet, is currently 1.47 million tons, the highest level
since he assumed Bulog's chairmanship early this year.

"This amount is enough for the consumption of civil servants
and members of the Armed Forces for nine to 10 months," Beddu
noted.

The large rice stock, he said, was generated from both the
agency's domestic procurement and by this year's imports and the
carry-over of last year's imports.

Although most Indonesian farmers are currently entering the
rice-planting season, Bulog can still collect some 35,000 tons of
rice per month from farmers, mainly in Central, South and
Southeast Sulawesi, for its buffer stocks.

Bulog targets to import up to one million tons of rice during
the current fiscal year, which ends next March. Last fiscal year,
Bulog signed import contracts for 1.8 million tons of rice, some
of which will be shipped during the current fiscal year, Beddu
said.

He acknowledged that imported rice, especially from Myanmar
and India, is often of poor quality. He gave assurances that
Bulog will reprocess low-quality rice using blowing techniques
and by mixing the poor-quality grain with better-quality rice.

He promised that Bulog would continue importing rice to
further increase its buffer stocks and to dampen the increases in
rice prices, which normally take place between the beginning of
rice planting season in October until the start of the harvest
season in April.

"However, rice prices declined slightly last month. This is
surprising because rice prices usually rise during a time of
scarcity," Beddu said.

Beddu predicted last September that rice prices were likely to
climb by between 1.2 percent and 1.8 percent each month from then
until February in response to the end of the harvest months and
the beginning of the planting season. (rid)