Bulog Allowed to Use Old SPHP Packaging Amid Plastic Crisis
The National Food Agency has allowed Perum Bulog to distribute Stabilisation of Food Supply and Price (SPHP) rice using stock packaging from previous years due to fluctuations in plastic raw materials. “This step is important to accelerate distribution,” said Deputy for Food Availability and Stabilisation of the National Food Agency, I Gusti Ketut Astawa, in a written statement on Sunday, 26 April 2026.
Ketut explained that fluctuations in plastic raw materials have impacted delays in Bulog’s rice packaging auction process. Therefore, Bapanas has accepted the state-owned food company’s proposal to package SPHP rice using stock from 2023–2025.
Ketut stated that there are 12.3 million sheets of packaging stock from the past three years that will be reused. He assessed that rice prices could potentially rise by around Rp 300 per kilogram if plastic prices become even more volatile.
In reusing the old packaging, Bapanas has asked Bulog to adjust the information on the packaging to match current conditions. The information to be adjusted includes rice quality, maximum retail price (HET), brand name, and expiry date.
The adjustments can be made by affixing update stickers. Bapanas has requested that the stickers used do not easily detach from the packaging, do not fade or get damaged easily, and are placed on parts of the packaging that are easy to see, read, and write on, and are printed or displayed clearly and boldly.
Ketut also encouraged Bulog to provide massive notifications to all involved parties regarding the use of 2023–2025 stock packaging for this year’s SPHP rice distribution. Bapanas will also inform all regional governments and the National Police Food Task Force about the plan to use 2023-2025 stock SPHP rice packaging.
Up to March this year, Bapanas recorded SPHP rice distribution realisation at 70.01 thousand tonnes. Meanwhile, the realisation from early April to 24 April was recorded at 78.78 thousand tonnes, exceeding the previous month’s realisation by 12.53 percent.
Head of the National Food Agency, Amran Sulaiman, assured that the government’s rice reserve stock managed by Bulog is very large, enabling better control of rice inflation compared to previous years.
Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded monthly rice inflation reaching 5.61 percent in September 2023 and 5.28 percent in February 2024. Meanwhile, the highest monthly rice inflation rate throughout 2025 was 1.35 percent in July. Throughout this year, the highest monthly rice inflation occurred in March at 0.65 percent.