This year the Government has issued permits to import 3.5 million tons of rice to supply the Government’s rice reserves. This is because domestic rice production throughout 2023 will experience a decline caused by extreme hot weather or El Nino. Therefore, import Rice is the right solution for keeping rice stock reserves safe.
Previously, Indonesia’s rice production reached 31 million tons, while this year rice production is predicted to only reach 30 million tons. In fact, national rice production can be said to be self-sufficient, but currently the Government must take quick steps to reduce rice shortages through imports. For information, the Government has issued an import assignment of 3.5 million tonnes with details of an assignment of 2 million tonnes in early 2023 and 1 The remaining .5 million tonnes will be at the end of 2023.
The Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman, said that this step should be appreciated because the Indonesian people do not need to experience a rice shortage. This rice import is carried out in line with the extension of rice food assistance to Beneficiary Families (KPM) until June 2024.
The rice imports enter through 28 ports to speed up the supply of imported rice throughout Indonesia. During the process of unloading the imported rice, the Logistics Agency (Bulog) has collaborated and received support from Pelindo which will provide unloading services.
Based on calculations by the Logistics Agency (Bulog), rice reserves in warehouses will reach 1.2 million tons at the end of 2023. This number will be increased by 400 thousand tons of imported rice this year which will only arrive in January 2024. So, the total stock Rice is projected to reach 1.6 million tonnes. Of this amount, it will be used for 10 kg rice assistance to 21.3 million Beneficiary Families (KPM) in the period January to March 2024.
Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Arief Prasetyo Adi also said that the rice harvest is expected to occur in April 2024. However, this harvest cannot be said to be 100 percent successful because it really depends on climate conditions after the impact of El Nino this year. Seeing this prediction, Arief Prasetyo Adi added that rice would not be sufficient if it only depended on the harvest period of local farmers.
Arief Prasetyo Adi said that the assignment to import 2 million tons of rice for next year had been approved by President Joko Widodo. His party just needs to issue an official assignment letter to Perum Bulog to follow up on the assignment. That way, the price of rice can continue to be reduced to make it cheaper because the import duty on rice imports will be borne by the Government.
The Government implemented the policy of waiving import duties on rice imports in line with the recent strengthening of the US dollar exchange rate. The strengthening of the US dollar exchange rate will certainly have a big impact on the prices of imported goods, including the prices of various other components such as the price of oil which is a fuel requirement for ships and soaring shipping costs. For the record, the import duty is IDR 450 per kilogram (kg).
As a result, several thousand tons of imported rice entered Indonesia from ASEAN countries. Apart from Cambodia, 24 thousand tons of imported rice from Vietnam arrived at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta. This amount is part of the rice import assignment until the end of 2023. Previously, Indonesia had imported 1.7 million tons of rice so that the 24 thousand rice from Vietnam was the remainder of the other 300 thousand tons of rice that would come.
Simultaneously, Tanjung Priok is not the only port for loading and unloading imported rice from Vietnam, but there are 17 other ports throughout Indonesia that serve as loading and unloading locations for rice. Next, Bulog will put the rice into Bulog warehouses spread throughout the region, especially DKI Jakarta and Karawang.
He added that the need for rice next year will increase significantly. For the rice aid program in 2024, it is estimated that the target will increase from 21.35 million KPM to 22.04 million KPM in the period January to June 2024. This number of KPM is based on data from the Targeting for the Acceleration of Elimination of Extreme Poverty from the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture.
In this period, Bapanas recorded that the total rice aid that would be distributed was 1.32 million tons of rice. Meanwhile, the Government needs to provide 16.62 million rice per month to meet people’s consumption needs. For this reason, the Government is working hard to realize rice imports until next year so that people do not experience shortages.
The government’s rice importation is a form of concern for the community so that they do not experience rice food shortages and do not experience high price spikes. For this reason, the public is expected to strengthen its support for the rice import program in order to maintain the availability of rice food reserves in Indonesia.
