TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia would import two million tons of rice from Thailand if domestic production slowed down, confirmed The National Food Agency or Bapanas Secretary Sarwo Edhy. The import was intended to tackle high rice prices.

“This could be an anticipatory measure,” he said on Sunday in Bandung. “We imported 2.8 million tons last year, and the plan for this year is 2 million tons. But if the domestic production is adequate the plan would be scrapped.”

Concerning the skyrocketing rice prices in recent days, Sarwo said that Bapanas believed it was caused by the high production cost and the impact of El Nino 2023, which hindered the planting season.

“First, the production cost hiked up, as well as the fertilizers, it was also impacted by El Nino, and the water was insufficient, the harvest decreased, so the prices increased automatically,” Sarwo explained. Sarwo also stressed that the rice price hike is not tied to Ramadhan.

Bapanas denied the potential of rice hoarding due to high prices and hoped the situation would be back to normal soon.

Editor's Note: The sentece of '2 tons' in the title and the first paragraph had been corrected to '2 million tons'.

ANTARA

Editor's Choice: Indonesia Expands Global Trade Market Access to Anticipate Japan's Recession

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News