Bulog intervenes in market with 49,822 tons of rice

JAKARTA (JP): The National Logistics Agency (Bulog) announced yesterday that it has so far supplied market places across the country with 49,822 tons of rice to stop prices from soaring.

A spokesman for the agency, Suhardjono, told reporters that the market operations -- kicked off in September and expected to last until next February -- have been conducted in 22 of the country's 27 provinces.

He said the rice sold under the market operations reached only 14,205 tons two weeks ago.

"The market operations will only be stopped when prices are stable again," he said.

Chairman of the agency, Beddu Amang, ordered heads of its regional offices last month to coordinate the steps needed to hold back rice prices and to make sure that there was always an adequate amount of rice stocked in their warehouses.

The logistics agency, established in 1967, was set up to regulate the country's primarily consumed commodities, including rice, flour, sugar and soybeans, through market operations.

Suhardjono said yesterday the agency's rice stocks would be sold to distributors and kiosks on a retail basis to ensure even distribution.

If necessary, he added, special teams established by the agency will assist the market operations by selling rice directly to consumers.

Provinces where market operations have so far been conducted are Aceh (183.5 tons), North Sumatra (6,780 tons), West Sumatra (6,850 tons), Riau (6,115 tons), Jambi (2,023 tons), South Sumatra (9,040 tons), Bengkulu (380 tons), Lampung (1,450 tons), Jakarta (4,010 tons), West Java (1,168 tons), Central Java (1,311 tons), Yogyakarta (four tons), West Kalimantan (3,106 tons), East Kalimantan (250 tons), Central Kalimantan (132 tons), North Sulawesi (726 tons), Bali (690 tons), West Nusa Tenggara (120 tons), East Nusa Tenggara (1,055 tons), Maluku (1,118 tons), Irian Jaya (2,264 tons) and East Timor (986 tons).

South Sulawesi

The agency's offices in East Java, Southeast Sulawesi and Central and South Sulawesi have not conducted market interventions because prices are relatively stable, Suhardjono said.

Nonetheless, he added, the offices in the four provinces are prepared to launch market operations if necessary.

He said the agency is currently holding total stocks of 1.1 million tons of rice, sufficient for seven months of allocations for civil servants and members of the Armed Forcers as well as employees of state plantation companies.

Indonesia, formerly the biggest rice importer in the world, became self-sufficient in rice in 1984. However, a substantial decline in domestic production as a result of the prolonged dry season forced the country to import rice again last year.

The agency has stipulated that rice from its local offices is to be sold to distributors at between Rp 700 (31 U.S. cents) and Rp 775 per kilogram, depending on the quality of the rice.

On the domestic market, prices are curbed from rising above Rp 800 per kg, Suhardjono said.

Beddu predicted last month that prices of rice would increase by between 1.2 percent and 1.8 percent each month in response to the end of the harvest months and the beginning of the planting season.

Press reports from across the country, however, say that prices have soared by up to 30 percent. Analysts say that apart from disease and unfavorable weather, the rise is due to speculators in the market. (pwn)