BPS sees 7.06 million tons rice output, farmer index rises

BPS Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics Ateng Hartono said projected rice output was based on estimated paddy production of 12.24 million tons of milled dry grain (GKG).

Potential paddy harvest area is estimated at 2.23 million hectares in September-November, down 12.97 percent from a year earlier, Hartono said at a BPS briefing in Jakarta on Thursday.

Paddy production is projected to fall 11.96 percent year-on-year during the period, broadly in line with the decline in harvested area.

Realized paddy harvest area in August stood at 1.08 million hectares, down 2.83 percent from 1.11 million hectares a year earlier.

Paddy production fell 2.94 percent year-on-year to 5.46 million tons of GKG in August from 5.63 million tons a year earlier, while rice production fell 2.90 percent to 3.15 million tons.

For January-August, realized paddy harvest area reached 8.32 million hectares, up 0.11 percent from the same period last year.

National farmers’ terms of trade, a measure of purchasing power, rose to 131.11 in September from 129.19 in August, BPS data showed.

The increase was driven by a 1.93 percent rise in the index of prices received by farmers, compared with a 0.44 percent increase in the index of prices paid.

BPS also recorded higher rice prices across all market levels in September. Prices rose 0.81 percent at the miller level, 0.61 percent wholesale and 0.80 percent at retail.

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Translator: Ahmad Muzdaffar, Kuntum Khaira