Govt to import 1m tons of rice
Govt to import 1m tons of rice
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will have to import up to one million
tons of rice in anticipation of a late harvest next year, a
minister has predicted.
Minister of Agriculture Syarifuddin Baharsyah said Wednesday
the long dry season could delay seedling and crop periods by one-
and-a-half months.
"The delayed harvest will cause a shortage of public rice
stocks. We are worried that the existing stocks will be finished
by late February or early March next year," the minister said
after a cabinet meeting Wednesday.
Syarifuddin said that one million tons of rice would be
sufficient to cover the possible shortage.
He said the next harvest period would likely fall in March
1988, and it was therefore wise that government import rice until
the harvest period.
"One million tons of rice is an enormous figure but the
National Logistics Agency (Bulog) will decide the exact figure."
He said the last time Indonesia imported a large amount of
rice was in 1994 after a long dry season.
"This time, we have tried to speed up the planting period, but
there are still possible delays," he said, reiterating that
Indonesia had not imported rice this year.
Minister of Food Ibrahim Hasan said that Indonesia would need
to import between one and 1.5 million tons of rice to meet the
ideal domestic rice stock level of between 2.5 million and 2.8
million tons of rice.
"There is currently 1.5 million tons of rice. So calculate
yourself how much we need to import," Ibrahim said during a
cabinet meeting.
Bulog's head, Beddu Amang, said last August the government
would not import rice despite this year's long dry season.
He said the agency's current rice stocks of about three
million tons was sufficient to offset a possible drop in rice
production.
"The existing rice stocks will be enough to face the dry
season until next March or April," Beddu said.
Oil revenue
Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana said Wednesday the
target revenue from oil for the 1998/1999 state budget should be
ideally based on an indicative crude oil price of about US$17 per
barrel.
Speaking to journalists before the cabinet meeting Wednesday,
Sudjana said US$17 per barrel was an ideal price to indicate
target receipts from oil exports in the next state budget.
"I think about US$17 per barrel is a realistic price."
He said he was optimistic that oil prices would continue to
rise next year, although there were possibilities that they could
also drop.
The government's revenue from oil and gas is projected to
increase to Rp 14.87 trillion in the 1997/1998 fiscal year, an
increase of 5 percent from Rp 14.12 trillion last fiscal year. In
the current fiscal year, which will end in March, the calculation
of the revenue from oil is based on the crude price of $16.50 per
barrel.
Experts from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies
(OPEC) had expected that the use of oil in developed countries
would increase next year, he said.
"If they (the experts) anticipated a drop in prices, the quota
would not be increased," he said.
OPEC ministers agreed here last month in its annual meeting to
raise its output ceiling by about 10 percent to 27.5 million
barrels per day (bpd) for the first half of next year.
Indonesia raised its output quota to 1.45 million bpd from
1.33 million bpd.
OPEC, which accounts for 40 percent of the world's output,
groups Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya,
Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Iran and Nigeria.
Sudjana said he expected the country to produce 27.5 million
barrels of oil next year.
He said he was optimistic that the revenue from the oil and
gas sector would still contribute largely to the state budget.
Sudjana also said Wednesday the government would keep its
subsidy on oil fuel in next year's state budget.
"In the current economic situation, we have to maintain the
subsidy on oil fuel," he said.
Also at Wednesday's plenary meeting, Minister of Information
R. Hartono said the government would help with the negotiations
over the price of newsprint.
"We will help with discussions to negotiate the price," he
said.
"The Ministry of Information believes the price should remain
the same, but the decision will depend on (Minister of Industry
and Trade) Tunky Ariwibowo," he said.
The Association of Indonesian Newspaper Publishers has been
negotiating with newsprint producers to reduce the price, in
response to mounting complaints by the country's publishing
houses about the sharp rise in the price of newsprint.
Several small publications have closed down in the past month
due to the price hike. (icn/das/prb)