Illustrative image (Photo: AFP/VNA)The announcementcame despite the government having imported 500,000 tonnes of rice fromcountries including Vietnam, Thailand, and Pakistan starting last December.
Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the governmenthad agreed to offer the option, arguing that the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)only had around a quarter of the required minimum reserves of 1.2 milliontonnes.
They decided ata meeting with the President that whenevernecessary, they can import again as many as 500,000 tonnes, the minister told arecent session with Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives.
However, he noted, the governmentwill not import rice in the near future as the harvest season is coming and theimport of foreign rice may affect domestic prices.
Rice prices has keptrising in Indonesia since the year’s beginning despite the rice import sincelate 2022 and recent market interventions by Bulog.
Head of Bulog Budi Waseso said thisagency has distributed about 230,000 tonnes, or nearly half of the imported500,000 tonnes to stabilise prices.
He pledged continued distribution tomeet demand of retailers and traditional markets, affirming that import is licensedonly in emergency cases./.
VNA
