Eight firms win Bulog's rice tender
Eight firms win Bulog's rice tender
JAKARTA (JP): Eight companies have been awarded contracts by
the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to import a total of 526,000
tons of rice between now and December, the government announced
on Friday.
The agency has agreed to buy the rice from one local company
and seven foreign companies at prices ranging between US$267.25
and $278.80 per metric ton for free on board (fob) delivery and
between $283 and $293.60 per ton for cost and freight (c&f).
Contracts to import 600,000 tons of rice had initially been
put out to tender, but the agency was unable to secure the full
amount because of poor terms offered by the bidding companies.
Bulog official Mohamad Ismet said the agency would open up a
tendering process for contracts to import the remaining 74,000
tons of rice next week.
Companies able to deliver the rice in October would be given
preference, Ismet added.
"All companies, including those just awarded contracts and
those disqualified on technical grounds, can submit tenders again
next week," said Ismet, who is the head of Bulog's foreign
procurement department.
Prices submitted in bids next week must not exceed the price
range offered by companies awarded contracts on Friday, he said,
adding that the government would consider purchasing more than
74,000 tons if the price was right.
The eight companies contracted to import the rice are Cargill
Inc. of China, Siam Rice Trading and Soon Hua Seng of Thailand,
Orco International and Petronas (Malaysian Trading) of Malaysia,
Kin Sun Co of Hong Kong, Ascot Commodities of the Netherlands and
PT Stelkon of Indonesia.
Local firm PT Dharma Jagat Raharja was the only company still
in the running on Friday morning that was not awarded a contract.
The selection process started last Monday, when tenders
submitted by 50 companies were scrutinized by a Bulog team. All
tenders had to include a number of documents, including bank
references and letters from the relevant embassies in the case of
foreign firms.
A final decision was delayed until Friday, one day later than
was initially planned, because Bulog's preference price was well
below the prices quoted by tendering companies, which ranged
between $274.25 and $310.25 per ton.
Minister of Industry and Trade Rahardi Ramelan, who is Bulog's
acting chairman, rebuffed criticism of the slow and complicated
way in which the tender was conducted.
"Just let me negotiate in a smart way," he told reporters at
his office on Friday.
Thailand's Siam Rice Trading won the largest import contract.
In December it will ship 110,000 tons of rice from Thailand at
$290.50 per ton.
Orco International was awarded a contract to deliver six
shipments of rice from China, Myanmar and Vietnam totaling 98,000
tons between now and December.
Petronas will deliver two shipments of rice from China
totaling 100,000 tons in November and December. The shipments
will be charged at $283.80 (c&f) and $289.50 (c&f) per ton
respectively.
Soon Hua Seng will deliver 60,000 tons, Cargill 38,000 tons,
Ascot 60,000 tons, Kin Sun 30,000 tons and Stelcon 30,000 tons.
The government initially planned to import 3.6 million tons of
rice in the 1998/1999 financial year, although it later revised
this amount to 4.1 million tons.
It has signed contracts with foreign governments to import 2.4
million tons of rice, some of which has already been delivered,
and has said that a further 1.2 million tons will be purchased
through a competitive international bidding process, including
the 600,000 tons put out to tender earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the government announced on Friday that it would
start distributing rice at the subsidized price of Rp 1,000 (9
U.S. cents) to a further 17 million poor families across the
country on Oct. 1. The program currently embraces 7.3 million
poor families. (das/gis)