Riau To Get 11 Tons Of Imported Rice Stock

Pekanbaru, Riau, Jan 25 (ANTARA) - The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in Riau province would receive 11 tons of imported rice stock this week, the agency's spokesman Andi Patris said here Tuesday.

The medium quality rice stock was imported from Vietnam. Last December, 20 tons of imported rice had also arrived, he said.

"This week, eleven tons of rice stock from Vietnam will be disembarked at Dumai seaport," Patris said.

The importation was meant to anticipate the crop failure in many parts of the country partly due to the extreme weather phenomenon, he said.

"With the coming of this imported rice stock, the need of rice in Riau province can be met. At the moment, the existing rice stock is 16,295 tons," he said.

Patris further said that the province's rice stock would remain secure for the coming six months, he said.

With the coming of this Vietnamese rice stock, the Bulog's stocks would remain secure so that its efforts to normalize the price hike at local markets could be made, he said.

About imported rice, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said recently that the government had given the green light to Bulog to import 1.5 million tons of rice in a bid to maintain food resilience.

"In principle we provide the flexibility to Bulog, because it has to maintain rice stock at 1.5 million tons by making the procurement from within and outside the country," Mari said.

According to the trade minister, the rice import was also intended to control fluctuating prices.

Bulog President Director Sutarto Alimoeso himself said that the realization of rice import by Bulog would be conducted no later than March this year.

Since the beginning, the government had permitted Bulog to import 1.5 million tons of rice to maintain food resilience because his agency did not want to have short of rice, he added.