Govt to Import Rice Conditionally

Nusa Dua, Bali - The government will import rice this year if domestic supplies fall short of needs, Vice Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamukti said. "As I said before, the most important thing is that the government must have (adequate) rice stocks. If imported rice is really needed and if the situation makes it impossible for us to rely on domestic supplies, we will import it," he told the press on the sidelines of Indonesian International Cocoa Conference at Westin Hotel here on Thursday. The lower-than-expected domestic rice supplies due to unfavorable weather prompted the government to make every effort to save rice stocks, he said. "Of course, we will do it more carefully, including importing rice to strengthen our stocks. Let's await further developments. What is clear, we will open the option to import rice," he said. He made it clear there were three factors underlying the government's plan to import rice, namely rice price movement, domestic output and stocks. "Our rice stocks fall short of the target. Obviously, we have set ourselves the target of achieving a rice surplus of 10 million tons," he said. He said the country now had rice stocks of 1.6 million tons, while the government needed 280 thousand tons per month as subsidized rice for the poor. Asked about an increase in the price of rice ahead of the fasting month of Ramadhan, he said it was something normal.