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Indonesia to import 1 million tonnes of rice from China
Head of Bapanas Arief Prasetyo Adi announced the plan on Tuesday, saying it was based on a direct instruction from President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
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Workers unload sacks of rice imported from Thailand from a cargo ship at Malahayati Port in Krueng Raya, Aceh, on June 22, 2023. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
T
he National Food Agency (Bapanas) has confirmed a plan to import 1 million tonnes of rice from China, following its decision to bring in the staple commodity from neighboring countries like Thailand and Vietnam.
Head of Bapanas Arief Prasetyo Adi announced the plan on Tuesday, saying it was based on a direct instruction from President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
"We looked into getting [supply] from China immediately after we got the order from the President a while ago," Arief said, as quoted by Tempo.co.
State Logistics Agency (Bulog) president director Budi Waseso earlier unveiled the plan to ship rice from China during a visit to East Kalimantan.
"In January, February and March next year, it is predicted that we won't have a major harvest season and in anticipation of that the President has ordered more imports," Budi told Antara.
Data from the Agriculture Ministry shows that the rice production in the country dropped by 5 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year.
Indonesia imported 1.59 million tonnes of rice from January to August this year, data from Statistics Indonesia shows, while more than 429,000 tonnes of rice were imported for the whole of 2022.
