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Food stocks sufficient for Ramadhan: Bulog
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Sufficient supply – A beef vendor serves a customer in a traditional market. The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) has said its food stocks are sufficient to meet an expected rise in demand in the upcoming Ramadhan fasting month. (Tempo/Tony Hartawan)
T
he State Logistics Agency (Bulog) has given an assurance that the supply of staple foods in the country is sufficient to meet an increase in demand during the upcoming Ramadhan fasting month.
Bulog says it has an available supply of 1.9 million tons of rice, 1.5 million tons of corn and 631 tons of beef, which are all considered sufficient to meet the expected rise in demand during Ramadhan in June.
"Our rice allocation is usually around 300,000 tons per month, while during Ramadhan rice consumption usually increases by only 10 percent. So, 1.9 million tons of rice is really sufficient," Bulog’s sales division head Subali Agung Gunawan told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday.
He further said Bulog’s rice stock was enough for 6.58 months while 626,000 tons of soya bean stocks would be enough for three months. Meanwhile, 144,000 tons of cooking oil was enough for six months, he added.
The agency’s stock levels, however, are lower than international standards. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food stocks should be 17 to 20 percent of national consumption. Thus, if Indonesia’s yearly consumption is 32.4 million tons, Bulog should have at least 5.5 million tons of food stocks.
"We must admit that we still lag behind the international standards. We are striving to reach that figure," Subali said.
He further explained that up until now, there were no signs of an increase in food prices. Shallots and chili prices were relatively stable despite a slight increase several months ago, while the beef price was mostly flat.
"We need to pay attention to chicken and eggs because their prices will start to climb right before Ramadhan and will reach their peak around the Idul Fitri festivities," said Trade Ministry spokesman Tirta Karma Senjaya.
Chicken usually sees a rise in demand during Ramadhan and Idul Fitri as it is used in many traditional foods. During Idul Fitri, people usually eat chicken soup and curry.
"In the first quarter, the demand for consumer goods was quite low. Many of our consumer goods members complained about weak sales. We expect this will improve in the second quarter. Hopefully Ramadhan can trigger higher demand," vice chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Benny Soetrisno told thejakartapost.com. (ebf)
