S. Kalimantan imports rice

S. Kalimantan imports rice

JAKARTA (JP): The South Kalimantan office of the National
Logistics Agency has imported rice and sugar from Thailand and
Vietnam to meet rising demand during the Ramadhan fasting month
and for the Idul Fitri holidays next month, an official said
yesterday.

The agency's provincial head of procurement, Tjasnoto
Rahardjo, said in the province's capital Banjarmasin that his
office had imported 2.3 million kilograms of sugar and 600 tons
of rice from Thailand and 1,800 tons of rice from Vietnam.

The imports, he said, had increased his office's stocks of
sugar to 3.3 million kg and rice to 18,000 tons, which would be
enough for market operations and to meet the needs of civil
servants and members of the Armed Forces for the next six months.

Rahardjo was reported by Antara as saying that his office
usually procured 20 million kg of sugar from PT Peleihari Sugar
Mill every grinding season, while rice was procured from South
Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and East Java.

Whenever there was a sugar shortage, the office procured it
from East Java or imported it, he added. (10)