Jakarta, May 6 (Antara) - Prices and stocks of basic necessities, such as rice, cooking oil, garlic, shallots and cayenne pepper are crucial food items during the fasting month of Ramadan and the post fasting or Ied Fitr festivities.
In the face of the fasting month of Ramadan next June, the government has taken measures to maintain stocks of basic necessities and control their prices. In a meeting last month, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) told his ministers that he would check the availability of adequate stocks and prices to ensure these come down.
The president is determined to even sack any officials if they are found deliberately hampering essential commodity stocks and allow prices to soar significantly during the fasting month.
"The president has ordered that ministry officials who hamper efforts to provide adequate food stocks and control prices should be fired," Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said after attending a limited cabinet meeting on preparations to face the fasting month and post fasting Ied Fitr or Lebaran 2016 in Jakarta on April 26.
Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said besides meat, cooking oil and rice, commodities whose prices often increase in the fasting month included garlic, shallots and chili.
"The president asked that officials find solutions to the phenomenon of prices rising around this time of the year," Darmin said.
The governor of the Indonesian central bank (Bank Indonesia/BI), Agus Martowardoyo, hailed the government's efforts to control prices of basic necessities. As of now, inflation is low and at a stable level.
President Jokowi, who chaired the meeting, wanted the government to ensure that things are different in 2016 than what has been happening in the past. Meat and rice prices always soared during Ramadan.
The prices of beef and rice must decline, he said while opening a limited cabinet meeting here on Tuesday evening.
"I want the price of beef to come down to at least Rp80 thousand per kilogram," he said.
The price of rice must also come down, and must not rise again as had happened at the time of Eid al-Fitr festivities last year, he said.
"During the harvest time, the price of rice declines. We must introduce changes to keep the prices of commodities low, and not allow them to increase," he said.
The head of state also wanted cooking oil to be sold at an affordable price.
In the meantime, rice prices in Indonesia are currently relatively stable, and this trend is expected to continue until the fasting month, in line with the ongoing harvest season, the state-owned logistics board (Bulog) stated.
"The price of rice is relatively more stable now compared to the same period last year due to the harvest season," Head of the Marketing Division of Bulog Subali Agung Gunawan stated during a discussion on food. The discussion was held on Wednesday (May 4) in view of the upcoming fasting month.
Gunawan has forecast that the prices would rise in the coming fasting month, though the hike would not be steep. It is predicted that Bulog would not need to launch its market operations as the price of rice would remain low. After all, rice for the poor (raskin) will also be distributed to the people.
With the distribution of raskin, people from the low-income group would be able to reduce their rice transactions in the markets.
Gunawan remarked that Bulog currently had 1.6 million tons of rice, which was part of the subsidized public service obligation (PSO) stock. Bulog also has 265 thousand tons of commercial rice stock.
Moreover, the logistics board has implemented a rice retail program "Bulog mart" at shops outside its warehouses. It also has stocks in its food program houses, which constitute Bulog's outlets.
In the meantime, Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Benny Sutrisno expressed the hope that following the arrival of the rice harvest season, Bulog will be able to accomplish its role as an agency to absorb farmers' rice.
The Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) continues to encourage the government, in this case the Ministry of Trade, to cut down its rice imports in a bid to build the country's food resilience and to improve the welfare of the farmers.
During the association's working meeting for 2016 in Jakarta on Tuesday, HKTI General Chairman Fadli Zon stated that import of food crops, particularly rice, should be controlled as this commodity was prone to smuggling.
"We want the government to restrict imports as it will hurt domestic farmers. Imports are only acceptable when we are really in need of the commodity. Imports will reduce the competitive edge of our farmers," Zon affirmed.
Based on data from the Ministry of Agriculture, in the second week of April 2016, the realization of the national dry (unhusked) rice procurement had reached 1,064,302 tons, equivalent of 490,034 tons of hulled rice.
The procurement in the current period was higher than that in the same period in 2015, which stood at 145,136 tons of dry unhusked rice, or equivalent of 73,729 tons of rice.
The grand rice harvest during the April-May 2016 period yielded 30.9 million tons of dry unhusked rice, or some 19.5 million tons of rice.
The rice production was higher than that in the same period in 2015. The country's domestic rice requirement over the three-month period was 7.98 million tons.***3***
(A014/INE/B003)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 06-05-2016 23:49: |
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