Coronavirus: Trade Minister Guarantees Rice, Meat Stock Safe

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Trade Ministry has assured that the country’s stock of food commodities was secure for the next several months despite the spread of the coronavirus.

Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto said the present rice stock, which reaches 3.5 million tons, was sufficient until August 2020. He added rice availability would continue to increase following predictions of the arrival of 22 million tons of additional rice production.

It is predicted that corn and garlic stock will also see an increase in production by 13 million and 300 tons, respectively, in the next few days.

“The harvest of red chili peppers will begin in late March to May. As for sugar, distributors’ stock is presently at 159,000 tons. We are still trying to curb price hike by deploying our task forces to warehouses,” he told a press conference on the stimuli of the coronavirus aired live by TV One in Jakarta, Friday, March 13, 2020.

Agus said the nation’s meat stock presently stood at 14,000 tons and the figure was bound to increase, particularly buffalo meat, at 170,000 tons. The present cooking oil stock is at 8.2 million tons and 2,350 tons of onions will be distributed and its stock will climb in stages to 14,000 tons in the near future until April 2020.

ANTARA | Galuh Kurnia Ramadhani (Intern Translator)