Minister rejects plan to import rice

Minister rejects plan to import rice

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After confirming with the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG)
that there would be no drought in the second semester of this
year, the Ministry of Agriculture has turned down a proposal by
state-owned logistics company Perum Bulog to import rice.

"We (the ministry and the BMG) don't see any threat of a long
drought as had been claimed earlier by Bulog. Therefore, we don't
see any urgency for importing rice," Minister of Agriculture
Anton Apriyantono told a press briefing at the State Palace on
Thursday.

Bulog President Director Widjanarko Puspoyo had said on Monday
that farmers would not be able to supply the estimated rice
buffer stock requirement of 2.25 million tons for this year due
to a possible drought between June and December. He added that
the best-case scenario for the rice stock would be only two
million tons. Therefore, he had asked Vice President Jusuf Kalla
to approve Bulog's plan to import some 300,000 tons of the
commodity.

"Maybe Bulog was referring to weather forecasts by foreign
countries. The drought is unlikely to reach such an extreme level
as to affect our rice stocks," Anton said.

If the government were to accede to Bulog's request, it would
mean revoking the country's rice import ban. This has been in
place since early last year with the goal of protecting the price
of local rice.

In addition, it is also aimed at preventing rice smuggling by
firms working in cahoots with corrupt Bulog officials.

Anton said that Indonesia would not face any problems with the
rice import ban in the immediate future.

"We are likely to remain self-sufficient in rice production
this year, although the harvest is expected to be more or less
similar to last year's," he said.

The country's unhusked rice production this year is estimated
to reach some 54.1 million tons, relatively flat compared to last
year. Previously, Indonesia had been importing an average of
500,000 tons of rice per year. Rice is the principal staple
foodstuff of the country's 220 million people.

The estimated flat growth in rice production this year has
been attributed to a number of natural disasters around the
country, mostly involving floods.

Anton said his ministry and the Ministry of Trade would review
the import ban in June based on predictions and input from
various agencies with a view to seeing whether the ban should be
extended until December.