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View all search resultsMinister suspects anomaly in rice distribution in Riau Islands as sign of smuggling
The Riau Islands provincial capital of Tanjungpingan is not a rice producing city but managed to send rice to South Sumatra's capital of Palembang, which enjoyed a surplus of 1.5 million tonnes of rice.
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Rice reserves: A worker inspects sacks of rice on Dec. 29, 2025, at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) warehouse in Lambaro, Aceh. Bulog said rice supplies in Sumatra remained sufficient to meet the needs of communities affected by natural disasters, with stocks of about 97,000 tonnes in Aceh, 25,000 tonnes in North Sumatra and 9,000 tonnes in West Sumatra. (AFP/Chaideer Mahyuddin)
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griculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman highlighted a rice distribution anomaly in Riau Islands province, indicating rice smuggling activities, after an illogical rice shipment pattern was found from Tanjungpinang to Palembang.
“Tanjungpinang is not a rice production center and does not have any rice fields while Palembang is a rice production center with a surplus of up to 1.5 million tonnes,” he told the Indonesian Regency Administrations Association (Apkasi) national working meeting in Batam on Monday.
“This is interesting in Riau Islands. There is rice from Tanjungpinang, which does not have rice fields, being sent to Palembang, which has a surplus of 1.5 million tonnes. What is the modus operandi?”
Arman said rice apparently being shipped from nonproducing areas to surplus regions indicates illegal imports of foreign rice through ports in Riau Islands.
“There are people who send rice from regencies without rice to areas with a rice surplus. Please make of this what you can,” he said.
Read also: Govt mounts probe after illegal rice import slips into Aceh
The minister said there would be no compromise and promised strict actions against businesses and those involved in the import or smuggling of rice into the country.
