Thai rice to arrive in July: Official
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The first shipment of imported rice from Thailand was expected to arrive in Indonesia in July this year, a senior official at the Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Tuesday.
Yamin Rahman director for agro industry at the ministry said that the rice importation was part of a US$40 million countertrade deal between the governments of Indonesia and Thailand.
"We hope the shipments will take place in July, as demanded by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)," Rahman said.
He, however, could not yet specify the volume of the first shipment, but said that it would be consistent with Bulog's demand.
Meanwhile, Bulog spokesman Suhardo said that his office had not yet been informed about the rice delivery.
"As far as I know, there is no final decision yet from the government," he told The Jakarta Post.
Top Bulog officials were not available for comment.
Minister of Industry and Trade Rini MS Soewandi signed in March a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with her counterpart in Thailand to promote countertrade between the two countries.
According to the MoU, Indonesia would import some 200,000 tons of rice from Thailand in exchange for the export of one CN-235 aircraft, 112 units of train cars, and ammonia, a chemical material for the production of fertilizer.
A source said that Thailand would send rice which was 25 percent "broken" grade.
According to Yamin, both governments were now finalizing the mechanism for the implementation of the countertrade program and expected to sign a memorandum of agreement (MoA) this month.
Rini has been promoting a countertrade deal with several countries in the region in a bid to help increase the country's exports amid the current weak global economic condition.
But some analysts have criticized Rini for not coordinating with other related ministries.
A senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture earlier said that the ministry had protested Rini's move to import rice from Thailand, saying that the import would cause pressure on the price of local rice and hurt the income of rice farmers, by introducing lower priced rice for consumers.
In addition to the deal with Thailand, Rini has also signed a similar MoU with Cambodia to import some 100,000 tons of rice.
Bulog has said that it would import at least 1 million tons of rice this year to maintain sufficient rice reserves at home.
A report earlier quoted a source as saying that Bulog has signed an Mou to import some 500,000 tons of rice from Vietnam.
In addition to the import made by Bulog, private rice traders are also importing rice.
Last year, private firms imported around 500,000 tons of rice from Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter.
The ministry of agriculture is optimistic that this year's unhusked rice production of 53 million tons would be achieved. This is equal to around 33 million tons of milled rice, or roughly the same as the national consumption level annually.
It said on Monday that Indonesia should only need to import around 1.3 million tons of rice this year.