Bulog to import 800,000 tons of rice next year

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) said on Wednesday it would import some 800,000 tons of rice next year from several countries to meet domestic demand.

"Of the 800,000 tons, some 200,000 tons are a carryover (from last year's contracts) while another 600,000 tons will be imported, based on new contracts," Bulog chairman Widjanarko Puspoyo told reporters.

He said that Bulog expected to import the 600,000 tons from Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Bulog would also buy 2.2 million tons from local farmers next year, bringing the agency's total stock to three million tons.

Rice is the staple food of most of Indonesia's 200 million population.

This year, the agency signed contracts to import some 1.7 million tons of rice from several countries, more than last year's figure of 1.5 million tons.

Aside from the agency, private companies also import rice for the domestic market.

The rice imports have often brought down the price of rice produced by local farmers, but Widjanarko gave an assurance that it would not happen next year as the imported rice would be shipped into the country at non-harvest times.

According to him, the imported rice would arrive in the country between August and September next year.

He also ruled out the possibility that Bulog would import rice from India and Myanmar next year, despite the lower prices offered by the two countries.

"We will not import rice from the two countries due to the low quality of their products and technical problems in shipping," he said.

Indonesia achieved self-sufficiency in rice in 1984, for which then president Soeharto received an award from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

However, since then rice production has declined and Indonesia imported almost five million tons of rice in 1999 amid the economic crisis.

Experts have warned that the country's unhusked output is expected to decline next year due to months of drought that forced farmers to delay planting their crops.

The Ministry of Agriculture, however, has said that the country's rice output target of 52 million tons can be achieved, despite the delayed planting.

Fifty-two million tons of unhusked rice produce 30 million tons of rice.