Bulog to increase rice supply this year

JAKARTA (JP): The National Logistics Agency (Bulog) said yesterday it would procure between 2 million and 2.5 million tons of unhusked rice this year.

Bulog said it would procure more milled rice than the 1.4 million tons bought from farmers last year.

After a meeting on domestic food supply Bulog announced the procurement plan was based on the optimistic outlook of the country's rice production.

The board of meteorology and geophysics believes the dry season will start slightly later than usual in rice producing areas which should help produce good crops.

Bulog said as of last Monday it had procured 6,500 tons of milled rice from Irian Jaya, Central and East Java, and South, Central and Southeast Sulawesi.

"The agency will purchase more rice by next month from other provinces," it said.

Bulog estimated this year's harvesting season would start between March and April.

The government set up Bulog as a buffer stock agency to control the distribution and importation of basic foodstuffs including rice, sugar, wheat, corn, and soybean to ensure national food security and reasonable incomes for farmers.

The government raised the floor price of unhusked rice 16.6 percent from Rp 450 to Rp 525 a kilogram as of Jan. 24 this year.

The government also increased the price Bulog paid for unhusked rice from village cooperatives from Rp 466 to Rp 541 a kilogram.

The price Bulog paid for unhusked rice from parties other than village cooperatives was lifted from Rp 460 to Rp 535 a kilogram.

Bulog paid Rp 856 a kg for milled rice from village cooperatives, up from 738 a kilogram, while the price for non- village cooperatives was raised to Rp 848 from Rp 730 a kilogram. (02)