Traders have recognized and expressed appreciation for the strategy of the Indonesian Government in collaboration with the Logistics Agency (Bulog) in an effort to stabilize rice prices and has proven successful.
Head of the Operational Planning and Public Services Division of Perum Bulog, Epi Sulandari, in the 2023 Inflation Control Coordination Meeting (Rakor) said that currently rice prices are starting to decline in the first week of October 2023. This is a very strong effort and commitment from the Government by starting to distribute rice. to the Cipinang Rice Main Market (PBIC) and also the Food Station.
With efforts to sell rice stocks from Bulog to PIBC, results have been seen, and prices have begun to decline and price stabilization has begun to occur on the market. This is confirmed by data from the Food Agency Price Panel, namely that there has been a decline.
Bulog itself has collaborated and coordinated with rice traders at PIBC, so that the rice they distribute can be directly sold to retail traders who sell it directly to consumers. The selected traders are traders who have been diversified by the Jakarta Special Capital Region (DKI) Trade Service. They are known to sell rice, but together with other food ingredients. Apart from that, banners and other documents have also been installed so that the rice can be sold in accordance with the Highest Retail Price (HET) provisions set by the Indonesian Government.
When confirmed, traders at the Cipinang Rice Main Market (PIBC) admitted that the price of rice had indeed begun to fall since the market operation efforts with rice and also the Stabilization of Food Supply and Prices (SPHP) carried out by the government.
Regarding the decline in rice prices that traders at PIBC have felt, Chairman of the Cipinang Rice Main Market Cooperative (KKPIBC), Zulkifli Rasyid, revealed that currently the price of medium quality rice has started to fall to IDR 11,200 per kilogram, previously it had risen to IDR 12,800. Rupiah per kilogram.
So, it can be said that the efforts of the Indonesian Government in collaboration with Bulog to distribute SPHP rice to PBIC and also since intensifying market operations, is a very good strategy because it has been proven to bring real results in the community and the impact can be felt directly.
The gradual decline in rice prices that has occurred several days ago is also clear evidence of how the Government really listens to the aspirations expressed directly by its citizens, especially from traders in the market, so that the decline in rice prices is now starting to occur.
On another occasion, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has also claimed that the current price of rice on the market is starting to fall. At least this decline has occurred in PIBC, East Jakarta. According to him, to be able to overcome the phenomenon of high rice prices, the Government has tried to continue to reduce the price by flooding the market with low-priced rice. And now the results of these steps can be felt by the community.
With the decline in rice prices at PIBC, there is great hope that this price reduction will also be felt at the consumer level. Regarding the availability or stock of rice in Cipinang, the amount has even reached up to 28 tons.
This figure has increased by 6.5 percent from the average stock amount last month. Then 57.52 percent of the rice in Cipinang itself has been distributed to the DKI Jakarta area. The Indonesian government has made a lot of efforts to reduce the price of rice. Starting from market operations by distributing government rice reserves (CBP), rice food banyuan to the cheap food movement.
President Jokowi also continues to instruct to increase the supply of rice commodities to the domestic market as a strategy to reduce selling prices at the consumer level which is currently affected by the high price of grain. According to him, the current high price of grain can contribute to an increase in the price of rice commodities in the domestic market, so this needs to be anticipated.
All the efforts that have been made to stabilize rice prices have actually produced real results and have been proven to be successful. This was even acknowledged by the traders themselves at PBIC, where they then highly appreciated the steps taken by the Government in collaborating with Bulog.
