Govt extends rice import ban until July

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has extended the ban on rice imports until July as existing stocks are still adequate to meet the domestic demand for the commodity, an official said on Sunday.

Director General of Foreign Trade Sudar SA explained that the extension of the import ban was signed by Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Suwandi on May 27 under Decree No. 9/MPP/1/2004.

"Ibu Rini signed the decree on the extension of the rice imports until July because the minister of agriculture has informed us that the national rice stocks are still adequate," Sudar said.

The decision to extend the rice import ban came as the country is to hold a presidential election in July.

Based on an earlier schedule, the import ban was to be lifted on June 1, Sudar said, hinting that the ban would possibly be extended until August.

Based on the new decree, the decision to shorten or extend the import ban is made, depending on domestic demand for the staple upon recommendation from the Minister of Agriculture.

Sudar said that the government would closely monitor national rice stocks to decide whether it was already time to lift the ban.

"Under such a policy principally the government wants to protect and help improve the welfare of rice farmers," he said.

The country normally imports around 2 million tons of rice per year.

But some analysts have criticized the import ban policy which would raise the price of rice at home and would eventually hurt farmers as they are actually also net rice consumers.

The critics said government policies should aim at boosting the productivity and efficiency of the agriculture sector in order to help farmers compete with cheaper imported rice products.

Another problem is that many farmers only have very small plots of land.

A recent study showed rice farmers who owned less than 1.5 hectares of farming land, only received 28 percent of their household income from farming the crop.