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n a bid to maintain staple food supplies throughout the remainder of the year '€” and to further curb inflation '€” the government will disburse Rp 2 trillion (US$180.91 million) to boost the country'€™s stock of rice and granted the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) permission to import 100,000 tons of soybean.

Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said on Wednesday that the government had allocated funds to add an extra 300,000 tons of rice to the country'€™s iron stock of 400,000 tons: an emergency supply to address a shortage or price hike of the grain.

He added that the government aimed to hold 1 million tons of rice in 2014.

'€œAccording to calculations from the FAO [Food Association Organization], we need an iron stock of at least 1 million tons of rice in case of emergency '€” the stock is a separate reserve to Bulog'€™s,'€ he explained.

Bulog must meet the annual year-end requirement of 2 million tons to supply needs and stabilize the price during the January-March planting period, when stocks are low.

Hatta said that the government was also contemplating to gradually increase Bulog'€™s year-end rice stock to 3 million tons, to meet 10 percent of the annual national need of 30 million tons.

'€œThe figure is adequate to keep speculators from stockpiling rice to increase the price for their own benefit and to further maintain inflation,'€ he said.

According to Hatta, Bulog currently holds 2.7 million tons of rice and is estimated to be able to keep stock at around 2 million tons until the end of the year so the country would not need to resort to imports.

Besides bulking up its rice reserves, the government has also granted a permit for Bulog to import 100,000 tons of soybean to deflate its price.

After appointing Bulog to the task of stabilizing the price of soybean the government last Friday finally issued the import permit for Bulog '€” the agency'€™s first soybean import in 15 years '€” after the price of soybean increased by almost 30 percent from around Rp 7,000 per kilogram to Rp 9,000.

The government previously stated that the weakening rupiah, along with the impact of bad weather in the US '€” a top exporting country, was behind the skyrocketing price of soybean.

Bulog president director Sutarto Alimoeso said that the commodity would start to be imported in December.

'€œWe are currently contacting our old network in the US regarding the possibility of new contracts. We are also looking for other potential exporting countries, such as Brazil and even India or Myanmar,'€
Sutarto said.

Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said that for the time being the government would ensure that tofu and tempeh (fermented soybeans) stocks were available, adding that 120,000 tons of imported soybean will enter the country within two weeks.

Tofu and tempeh producer associations previously said that they would strike if the government did not issue import permits for Bulog.

In July last year, tofu and tempeh producers staged a three-day strike after the price of soybeans hit
Rp 8,000 per kilogram, from about Rp 5,000 early that year.

Central Statistic Agency data shows that this year, consumption of soybean might reach 2.2 million tons. Currently, 75 percent of the country'€™s needs is covered by imports.

The government has set a target to become soybean self-sufficient by 2014. The government is planning to add 500,000 hectares of soybean plantations to achieve its target of producing 2.7 million tons to meet domestic demands, but no new land has been acquired yet.