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Logistics issues may jeopardize rice imports as Bulog’s reserves run low
State Logistics Agency (Bulog), the government institution tasked with securing national staple food stocks, may face greater logistics challenges the longer the agency put off plans to seal the deal on import agreements with rice exporters.
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Workers transport rice at the Cipinang Central Rice Market in Jakarta on March 15, 2021. (JP/Yulianto Catur Nugroho)
T
he State Logistics Agency (Bulog), the government institution tasked with securing national staple food stocks, may face greater logistics challenges the longer the agency puts off plans to seal the deal on import agreements with rice exporters.
Bayu Krisnamurthi, the advisory board member of the Association of Agriculture Experts (Perhepi), said several technical aspects must be fulfilled to import rice, including the volume and timing of implementation.
“Scheduling [the imports] is the most crucial aspect because it is related to transportation, including the loading and unloading process and the time it takes [for the rice] to arrive at the port,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. “Looking for a carrier at the end of this year when logistics disruptions have not fully abated can be challenging.”
He went on to say that 500,000 tonnes of rice is a large amount to be transported by ship, which usually have a capacity of 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes. Thus, the delivery needs to be scheduled based on the volume transported per shipment.
Bulog rice reserves currently amount to only 503,000 tonnes, according to the agency’s public relations head Tomi Wijaya. This amount is a far cry from the 1.2 million tonnes target by year-end.
“Considering the current global food crisis, imports are not as easy as usual,” Tomi told the Post on Tuesday when asked for confirmation regarding the possibility of getting imported rice to arrive in Indonesia in mid-December.
Perhepi’s Bayu cautioned that Bulog’s very low rice reserves might diminish the agency’s ability to influence market psychology to maintain domestic price stability and to control inflation.
