Indonesia rice imports reach record level
Indonesia rice imports reach record level
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's rice imports during the first half (April-September) of the current fiscal year were valued at US$239.7 million, the highest level for more than a decade.
Speaking in a hearing with Commission VII (on agriculture and forestry) of the House of Representatives yesterday, chairman of the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) Beddu Amang pointed out that the government had to import rice to overcome the supply shortage in the domestic market and to stabilize prices.
"Bulog will continue to rely primarily on local production for its stocks. But if local procurement does not meet our target, we have to import from foreign countries," said Beddu at the hearing.
He said that last year Bulog's rice procurement was only 918,925 tons, the lowest since 1984, after which Indonesia became self-sufficient in rice.
"The low procurement was due to the decline in production in 1993 and 1994 and because many farmers preferred to sell their production on the open market at higher prices," he said.
Beddu said the country expects to import about two million tons of rice during the current fiscal year.
Rice consumption in Indonesia -- the world's fourth most populous country with about 195 million people -- has been increasing over the last three years because of a population growth of 1.6 percent per year and the increasing per capita income.
According to Beddu, bad weather, recent floods in several rice-producing areas and problems with fertilizer distribution could affect rice production during the next fiscal year, which will begin in April.
Sugar
Turning to sugar, he said that the country's production in 1996 is expected to reach 1994's level of 2.5 million tons.
He stated that Indonesia's sugar production dropped by 14 percent in 1995 due to bad weather. As a result the country will have to import some 137,000 tons of sugar in January and 20,000 tons in February.
Last year, Indonesia had to import 400,000 tons of sugar.
The value of sugar imports during the period of January to August last year rose to US $126.1 million from US $34.5 million in the same period of 1994.
He said that the rise in value resulted particularly from the increasing prices of sugar on the world market.
He noted that Bulog had also prepared large supplies of vegetables, spices, beef, chicken and eggs to meet the rising demand during the current fasting month and the coming Idul Fitri holiday.
At yesterday's hearing, members of the commission expressed their concern over the increasing imports of essential commodities.
They urged that the government should improve its food management, particularly in rice, which is the main staple food of the vast majority of Indonesians. Otherwise, imports will continue.
"The increasing food imports will certainly further drain our foreign exchange," said H.E. Sumitomo, a commission member of the Golkar faction.
He warned the government that the food problem could easily be turned into a political issue that will be detrimental to the country's stability.
"We still remember how the worsening food supply played into the hands of the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party which led to an attempted coup (in September 1965)," he noted.
Beddu said the government has taken several steps to tackle the issue. "We have been conducting research to identify problems faced by each of the essential commodities," he said.
Bulog, for example, has been in cooperation with the research department of the University of Agriculture in Bogor to investigate the problem of chili, which recently saw its price shoot up to almost Rp 20,000 (US$8.7) a ton from Rp 3,000 last November.
"To cope with the seasonal shortage of chili, Bulog and PT Indofood (controlled by Soedono Salim) plan to establish chili plantations," Beddu added. (13)
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