Rice, corn, soybean output seen to slip this year

JAKARTA (JP): The country's production of unhusked rice, corn and soybean will likely slip this year due to a decrease in total crop areas as well as productivity, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS).

BPS chief Soedarti Surbakti said here on Monday the country's unhusked rice production was estimated to fall 3.28 percent to 50.22 million tons this year from 51.90 million tons in 2000.

The projected fall was based on predictions that the country's total area covered by paddy fields would drop 3.17 percent to 11.42 million hectares, while the fields' productivity would decrease 0.11 percent to 4,396 kilograms a hectare this year, she said.

The BPS chief also said that this year's shelled corn production was also projected to decline 3.92 percent to 9.30 million tons from last year's 9.68 million tons.

She said that factors behind the decline in corn output included a decrease in corn harvest area and lower land productivity.

Corn harvest area was estimated to decline 3.84 percent to 5.56 million hectares this year, while corn field productivity dropped 0.43 percent to 2,753 kilograms a hectare this year, she said.

According to her, the country will also face a 9.27 percent drop in soybean production to 920,000 tons this year from 1.02 million tons last year.

The year's estimated drop was the result of an estimated 2.92 percent decrease to 800,000 hectares in crop area and a predicted 6.48 percent fall to 1,154 kilograms a hectare in productivity, he added.

Tourists

BPS also reported that the number of foreign visitors arriving in Indonesia increased 5.68 percent in May to 367,800 from 348,100 the previous month, despite the country's increasing political turbulence.

Soedarti said that the rise was the result of increased confidence among tourists that the country's current political uncertainty had not affected security conditions.

Between January and May 2001, total foreign tourist arrivals at 13 points of entry increased 5.99 percent to 1.69 million from 1.6 million during the same period last year.

The 13 points of entry to Indonesia are airports in Jakarta, Bali, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, East Java, Central Java, West Nusa Tenggara, North Sulawesi and South Sulawesi; sea ports in Batam, Jakarta and Riau; and a land-border crossing in Entikong, West Kalimantan.

Visitor arrivals rose sharpest at Polonia Airport in North Sumatra, where a 25.25 percent increase was recorded, followed by Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta at 14.16 percent.

Tourist arrivals in May this year at Adi Sumarmo Airport in Solo, Central Java also surged 14.2 percent, but those at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali suffered a 4.87 percent drop.

Tourist arrivals at Sam Ratulangi Airport in North Sulawesi and at Selaparang Airport in West Nusa Tenggara also fell 35.07 percent and 2.91 percent respectively.

The average occupancy rate at star-rated hotels in 10 tourist destinations stood at 42.86 percent in April this year compared to 44.72 percent in March, the bureau reported.

The highest hotel occupancy rates were in Bali at 60.22 percent and the lowest in South Sulawesi at 17.94 percent.(05/tnt)