RI Rice Imports Not to Exceed 2 Mln Tons

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government will not issue a license for the importation of rice more than two million tons this year, although production at home is estimated to drop by 1.68 percent, a deputy minister said. "The two million ton figure decided in a coordination meeting at the office of the chief economic minister is to be carried out only if we face the worst scenario. So, rice import will not exceed it," Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said on Friday. He said that the government would increase the rice import quota and the deadline for its arrival would be based on the need and regulations in force. The government has authorized the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) to import rice and decided the volumes based on the need in order to secure stocks and stabilize price. Data at the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), Indonesia's total rice import since early this year has reached 1,870,711 tons, which arrived through several ports in the January - September 2011 period. The imported rice came from Vietnam, Thailand, India, China and the United States and arrived through the ports of Tanjung Perak (Surabaya, East Java) Tanjung Priok (North Jakarta), Belawan (Medan, North Sumatra), Panjang (Lampung) and Merak (Banten). During November 2011, Bulog also has concluded an agreement to import 250,000 tons of rice from India which is expected to begin arriving early in December 2011.(*)