Cheap Bulog rice a hot item in Medan's markets

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Rice trader D. Sinulingga enjoyed brisk business in North Sumatra town of Medan on Monday, thanks to a popular item -- cheap State Logistics Agency (Bulog) rice.

A customer, Eva, did not hesitate before deciding to buy seven kilograms of the rice at Rp 2,900 (28 U.S. cent) a kilogram.

"I'm grateful there's trader who sells cheap rice. I don't care where he gets it from as long as it can help me feed the family," the 41-year-old housewife said on Thursday, who scoured the market for the agency's rice enabling her to get a week's supply rather than buying the same amount of regular rice which would only last for two days.

Based on The Jakarta Post's observation of several markets in the city, regular rice like the IR 64 type was priced at Rp 3,900 per kilogram and Ramos at Rp 4,300 per kg.

Sinulingga, who has been in the business for years, said many housewives were now looking for cheaper rice following the government's move to raise fuel prices in October this year. For these customers, he would offer Bulog rice.

"I have just started to sell Bulog rice recently, but not much. A trader offers it to us at Rp 2,800 a kg," he said, adding that most rice traders in Medan now offer the rice.

He confessed, however, that in selling Bulog rice, the traders would not do so openly.

"I just offer Bulog rice when customers ask for cheap rice. If they don't ask, I won't offer it since the rice is not supposed to be sold," he said.

The government announced it would import 200,000 tons of rice in October to increase domestic supply, with Bulog in charge of handling the importation, to stabilize local rice prices.

Bulog would be allowed to import rice, but the imported rice would not be released on the domestic market, unless local rice prices went above Rp 3,500 per kilogram.

When asked for confirmation on the widespread marketing of Bulog price, spokesman of the provincial logistics agency (Dolog), Haris Fadillah Lubis, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday the office never sold Bulog rice, whether local or imported, to the markets.

However, he said it was possible the rice was sold by Dolog employees from their monthly rice ration, adding that it was allowed as it was the right of the employees.

Haris himself, who is married with two children, received 90 kg of Bulog rice every month. He then sold it for Rp 2,750 per kilogram to an employee who serves as a collector before selling all the rice to traders.

"Almost all employees here sell their rice to the collector, not only me," he said of Bulog's 130 employees there.

After the rice was sold, many of them bought better tasting rice, he said. "We don't have to eat Bulog rice all our lives. It's OK to buy other rice once in a while," he said.

Dolog office in Medan now has a supply of 30,000 tones of rice, including 14,000 tones which was imported from Vietnam and arrived in Belawan port in November.

Haris said all of Bulog's rice supply was safely stored in four warehouses. "All of Bulog's rice supply is for next year, especially to deal with national scale natural disasters and the rice-for-the-poor (Raskin) program," he said.