Govt needs another Rp 3t to import rice

Govt needs another Rp 3t to import rice

JAKARTA (JP): Newly appointed State Minister of Food and
Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin has said the government needs another
Rp 3 trillion (US$300 million) to import more rice this year due
to a sharp decline in Bulog's stocks.

Saefuddin, who replaced Haryanto Dhanutirto, said Monday that
the money could finance up to two million metric tons of imported
rice at $250 per ton if the exchange rate was based on Rp 6,000
per U.S. dollar.

He said the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) expected to
purchase about two million metric tons of rice from local growers
for the 1998/1999 fiscal year.

The agency has collected 80,000 metric tons as of May.

"Rice procured by Bulog in the January to May period this year
was only 80,000 tons," he said, adding that Bulog's rice stocks
currently stood at 2.5 million metric tons.

Early this year, Bulog chairman Beddu Amang said Indonesia
would need to import about 3.3 million metric tons assuming the
agency could procure one million metric tons from local growers.

Saefuddin said the government had spent over Rp 3 trillion
since December for rice imports. An additional Rp 3 trillion
would bring the government's subsidy for imported rice alone to
Rp 6 trillion, he said.

The Ministry of Agriculture said early this year that delays
in rice planting had adversely affected production this year.
This year's harvest was estimated at 45 million metric tons of
unhusked rice.

Newly appointed Minister of Agriculture Soleh Solahuddin said
Monday the government planned to increase the floor price of
unhusked rice next month to Rp 800 (8 U.S. cents) per kilogram
from Rp 700 per kilogram to increase farmer incomes.

He said the planned increase, the third in the last four
months, would further encourage farmers to boost rice production.

"The main objective of the rice price increase is to improve
the real incomes of farmers," Soleh said after a ceremony in
which he took the ministerial reigns from his predecessor Justika
Sjarifudin Baharsjah, who held the position for a mere two
months.

"The government will discuss the plan in the next economic and
financial coordinating meeting, but I think the price increase
will help farmers a lot," he said.

Early last month, the government announced a 17 percent
increase in the producer floor price of unhusked rice to Rp 700
from Rp 600.

The government also raised the price of unhusked rice procured
by Bulog from village cooperatives 16.2 percent to Rp 716 per
kilogram from Rp 616 per kilogram.

The price of unhusked rice procured by Bulog from parties
other than village cooperatives was increased 16.4 percent to Rp
710 per kilogram from Rp 610 per kilogram.

The price of milled rice procured by Bulog from village
cooperatives increased 15.8 percent to Rp 1,125 per kilogram from
Rp 971 per kilogram and from other sources 16 percent to Rp 1,115
per kilogram from Rp 961 per kilogram.

Soleh said farmer production costs had increased over 100
percent in the last several months, much higher than the
increases in rice prices.

Famous for his research in agronomy, Soleh, 54, was rector of
the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) where he first earned a
degree in 1972. (gis)