JakartaPost-July 28, 2023
Indonesia may face challenges in keeping a sufficient rice supply next year as the country struggles to maintain stocks because of challenges caused by El Niño and export curbs from other rice-producing countries. The United Nation’s World Meteorological Organization declared El Niño was already under way with a 90-percent chance that it would continue during the second half of this year. Consequentially, the hot, dry weather that El Niño causes is expected to threaten food production across Asia. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecasts that El Niño will peak in August and September, with weak to moderate intensity in the country. “God willing, our rice stock will not be affected,” National Food Agency (NFA) head Arief Prasetyo Adi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. He mentioned that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has instructed related ministries and the NFA to plan early to brace for the peak of El Niño. The government has decided to import up to 2 million tons of rice this year to increase the government rice reserves (CBP). The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) said on July 19 it only held around 750,000 tons in reserves, far below the safe threshold of 1.2 million tons. According to Arief, the imported rice will be coming from Thailand and Vietnam and if it does not meet the demand, the Trade Ministry has pocketed a deal with India to procure 1 million tons when the CBP runs low. The price of rice in Indonesia cold increase because of the psychological effects caused by a depleting CBP, in which case the government can intervene through market operations. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2023/07/28/ris-rice-reserve-not-sufficient-to-weather-el-nio-next-year.html.
