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Food prices to remain high through year-end, Bapanas says
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Dagdu Bhil carries sugarcane he has cut at a sugarcane plantation in Khochi village, Maharashtra, India, on Dec. 17, 2022.
Sanket Jain/Thomson Reuters Foundation
(Reuters)
F
ood prices are expected to remain high for the rest of the year as the El Niño weather phenomenon affects production in Indonesia and other countries, the National Food Agency (Bapanas) said on Monday.
Bapanas head Arief Prasetyo Adi said the government would continue its efforts to control food prices, including by securing further imports of three particularly challenged commodities: rice, corn and sugar.
Arief noted that the government had assigned State Logistics Agency (Bulog) to import 3.5 million tonnes of rice this year to beef up the government’s stocks.
The government has also agreed to waive import duties on Bulog’s rice imports to help tame high food prices.
Other efforts to boost production are also underway, he said, citing plans to expediate rice planting and improve the availability of fertilizers.
"This is to improve rice price in the market. [The government] will bear the import duty, which amounts to Rp 450 per kilogram of rice,” Arief said, as quoted by Detik.com.
Arief added that the government was preparing 26,000 fertilizer distribution stands throughout the country by working closely with state-owned fertilizer company Pupuk Indonesia.
