Bulog to supply 4.3m tons of rice in 1998/1999

JAKARTA (JP): The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) said yesterday it would supply 4.3 million tons of rice to the market in the 1998/1999 fiscal year to ensure price stability.

Agency chairman Beddu Amang refused to disclose how much of the amount would be imported.

But Antara reported yesterday about 1 million tons of rice would come from local growers, while the remaining 3.3 million tons would be imported.

Beddu said the agency would directly sell 1.8 million tons of the rice to the military, while the remaining 2.5 million tons would be used for market operations to stabilize prices.

"We will need US$1.05 billion in loans from the central bank to finance the imports," he told a hearing with members of the House of Representatives Commission III for agriculture, forestry, transmigration and food affairs.

Beddu directed the agency's licensed distributors yesterday to sell sugar and wheat flour at below market prices.

He said the distributors would sell sugar at Rp 1,400 (14 U.S. cents) per kilogram at their warehouses, Rp 1,450 per kilogram in the market and Rp 1,700 per kilogram to retailers.

They would sell sacks of wheat flour at Rp 21,500 at their warehouses and Rp 21,525 in the market. The retail price of wheat flour is Rp 1,000 per kilogram, he said.

Bulog will inspect the distributors' warehouses to ensure they do not withhold their commodities from the market, said Beddu.

He said the local logistics agencies would keep customers informed of the latest official prices to prevent people from having to buy the products at higher prices.

Distributors found selling sugar and wheat flour at higher prices will be charged of hoarding and of practicing speculative activities, he said.

"They could lose their license to distribute if they withhold their products to sell them at higher prices," he said.

Beddu acknowledged that many of Bulog's distributors were withholding their products following the government's decision in January to scrap the agency's monopoly privileges beginning this month.

The government agreed last month to scrap Bulog's monopolies on the import and distribution of several important commodities except rice as part of reform measures attached to the $43 billion bailout package arranged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The agency has said it would continue to sell sugar and wheat flour at lower prices until all of its stocks were exhausted.

Beddu said the agency would need Rp 13.5 trillion to import 1.1 million tons of sugar at $360 per ton this fiscal year, 700,000 tons of soybeans at $284 per ton, 4.25 million tons of wheat at $200 per ton and 3.3 million tons of rice at $220 per ton.

Beddu said Bulog's stock of rice as of Feb. 10 totaled 1.15 million tons.

This month, he estimated the agency would import 547,523 tons of rice, while imports in March could total 768,384 tons.

About 180,225 tons of rice are currently being unloaded at seaports across the country, he said.

As of Feb. 9, the agency has supplied 1.71 million tons of rice to the market during its 1997/1998 fiscal year market operations from April last year.

"The volume of rice we supplied for market operations last December, about 436,797 tons or about 14,500 tons a day, is the most ever supplied by Bulog," Beddu said.

In the last three months, Bulog supplied 1.23 million tons of sugar, or 400,000 tons per month. The normal supply of sugar a year is 3.3 million tons, or 275,000 tons per month, Beddu said.

During the same period, the agency also supplied 784,434 tons of wheat flour, or about 260,000 tons per month. The agency normally supplied about 2.8 million tons of wheat flour a year, or 230,000 tons monthly, he said.

The agency supplied 95,000 tons of soybeans per month in the past three months, while the yearly demand of the commodity was normally 805,238, or 67,000 tons a month, he said. (das/gis)