RI won't import rice: Bulog head

JAKARTA (JP): Head of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), Beddu Amang, reiterated here yesterday that the government would not import rice despite the prolonged dry season.

Beddu said the agency's current rice stocks of about three million tons were sufficient to offset a possible drop in rice production.

"The existing rice stock will be enough to face the dry season until next March or April," Beddu said after reporting to President Soeharto.

He said President Soeharto had urged Bulog to launch a market operation in important locations to ensure prices would not increase.

The President asked the agency to sell rice in market places or a market operation any time without having to wait for price hikes, he said.

"Even if the agency has to carry out a market operation for 10 months, selling about one million of its rice stocks, it will still have a rice stock of about one million tons," he said.

Indonesia would therefore not need to import and this would save the country's foreign exchange reserves, he said of his agency's plan to cut import programs.

President Soeharto appealed to the government and private institutions to cut imports to curb a further depletion of the country's foreign exchange reserves, which were recently severely hit by the dollar rush.

The rupiah has declined by over 20 percent this year, more than half of the fall took place in the last few weeks due to speculative attacks from local and fund managers.

"We have to maintain price stability. The dollar's surge should not affect commodity prices, especially those produced locally," he said, adding that Bulog would conduct a market operation if necessary.

Beddu said the crude palm oil export tax had been reduced to 50 percent. "This has increased our imports," he said.

He said Bulog had received higher crude palm oil allocations of 20,000 tons from 10,000 tons previously.

"The deregulation package encourages exports. Our duty to stabilize local prices now becomes more difficult. We have therefore asked state-owned plantations for additional supply to help stabilize the price," he said. He said prices for prime commodities like rice, soybeans and palm oil were stable. (icn)