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Indonesia fails to procure 500,000 tonnes of rice due to port constraints: Bulog
The state agency tasked with importing an additional 1.5 million tonnes of rice this year has said it would miss this target by 500,000 tonnes, partly due to capacity constraints at the country's ports.
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A farmer plants rice seedlings on Oct. 10, 2023 in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. (Antara/Ahmad Subaidi)
T
he government is struggling to meet its rice import target for this year, in part because of capacity constraints at the country’s seaports, according to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).
The agency estimated that some 500,000 out of the additional 1.5 million tonnes of rice imports mandated last month by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo would not be entering the country this year.
Bulog chief Budi Waseso blamed capacity constraints at the country’s ports for the failure to meet the rice import target.
He said the agency had ordered 1 million tonnes of rice imports, of which 400,000 tonnes would be shipped next year.
“The [remaining] 500,000 tonnes are already forfeit, because [1.5 million tonnes] is the quota for this year. You can’t carry it over,” he added.
Budi explained that this was “because our discharge capacity is insufficient, the port [capacity] is limited. Now, unloading 20,000 tonnes of rice can take up to six days”, so the ports lacked the capacity to handle 500,000 tonnes, online media Kumparan reported on Wednesday.
Read also: Govt to import another 2 million tonnes of rice in 2024: Bulog
