Rice import ban extended to end 2005: Minister
Rice import ban extended to end 2005: Minister
Dow Jones, Jakarta
The government has decided to extend a rice import ban until the
end of this year, according to a senior government official.
"We aren't worried about our rice stocks, so we've decided not
to import rice unless conditions become extreme," Minister of
Agriculture Anton Apriyantono said late on Wednesday.
"This policy will be reviewed at the end of the year to see if
it will be extended again."
Anton said his ministry's criteria for "extreme" conditions
included a decline in rice stocks to below one million metric
tons and an average price of Rp 3,500 (36 U.S. cents) a kilogram
for medium-quality rice.
National rice stocks as of June 20 totaled 1.8 million tons,
while the current average price of medium-quality rice is Rp
2,750/kg.
Indonesia will have rice stocks of 4.2 million tons by the end
of this year, Anton said, citing ministry projections.
The government initially imposed the ban from January 2004 to
July 2004, then extended it in August of that year until end-
2004, due to expectations of robust domestic output.
In December 2004, the government extended the ban to June 2005
due to official assessments of sufficient stocks and a good rice
harvest.
The ban applies to only indigenous rice varieties and doesn't
block imports of rice strains that aren't locally produced.
The ban's extension will likely disappoint Thailand and
Vietnam, who have traditionally provided the bulk of Indonesia's
rice imports.
The government's decision reflects its efforts to boost the
incomes in its rural agricultural sector, which is dominated by
smallhold subsistence farmers.
Indonesia has pushed for international trade policies
supportive of developing countries' subsistence farmers through
the Group of 33 developing countries, or G33.
The G33, a 42-nation grouping coordinated by Indonesia,
reiterated earlier this month its intention to make the
organization's special products and special safeguard mechanism,
or SP-SSM, a cornerstone of negotiations in the World Trade
Organization's (WTO) Doha Round.
The SP-SSM aims to protect developing countries' staple
agricultural commodities, including rice, sugar and soybeans,
from excess import-tariff cuts.
The G33 fears such cuts will trigger a flood of heavily
subsidized imports from developed countries that could devastate
subsistence farmers.
The Doha Round is likely to climax at the WTO ministerial
meeting in Hong Kong in December.