ID :
22960
Mon, 10/06/2008 - 21:38
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/22960
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GOVT RICE PURCHASING PRICE NEEDS REVIEWING: BULOG
Jakarta, Oct 6 (ANTARA) - The government's rice purchasing price (HPP) is no longer in keeping with the production costs farmers have to bear following the fuel oil price hikes not long ago, and therefore it needs to be reviewed, National Logistics Agency (Bulog) chief Mustafa Abubakar said.
"The HPP has to be reviewed. Farmers' production costs have increased since the fuel oil price hikes. We have to protect farmers so that they will not switch their cultivation activity to maize and soybean," the Bulog chief said here on Monday.
He said the price of Vietnamese rice had now reached US$450 per metric ton (MT) while that of Thailand had reached US$600 per MT or equal to the price of domestic farmers' rice.
"We will hold a meeting to discuss the need to raise the HPP. It should not happen that the price of rice at home is less competitive than that of imported rice so that farmers will not be disadvantaged," he said.
Indonesia should also diversify its export markets so that it no longer needed to rely on ecports to the United States and Japan only, Abubakar said.
"The important thing is that we have to increase domestic production," he added.
Abubakar said Indonesia had also had a hand in pushing down the rice price in the world market in the past few years. "The world market predicted that Indonesia would import at least one to two million tons of rice in 2008 but the prediction turned out to be wrong," he said.
He said Indonesia was able to meet its domestic need for rice and there was the possibility that Indonesia would import rice again was small so that there would be a rice surplus in the world market.
"That is why the rice price in the world market has fallen of late," the Bulog chief said.
He said Indonesia had succeeded in increasing its rice production at home this year to 2.7 million tons. At the end of the year it was even predicted to produce three million tons of rice.
"The HPP has to be reviewed. Farmers' production costs have increased since the fuel oil price hikes. We have to protect farmers so that they will not switch their cultivation activity to maize and soybean," the Bulog chief said here on Monday.
He said the price of Vietnamese rice had now reached US$450 per metric ton (MT) while that of Thailand had reached US$600 per MT or equal to the price of domestic farmers' rice.
"We will hold a meeting to discuss the need to raise the HPP. It should not happen that the price of rice at home is less competitive than that of imported rice so that farmers will not be disadvantaged," he said.
Indonesia should also diversify its export markets so that it no longer needed to rely on ecports to the United States and Japan only, Abubakar said.
"The important thing is that we have to increase domestic production," he added.
Abubakar said Indonesia had also had a hand in pushing down the rice price in the world market in the past few years. "The world market predicted that Indonesia would import at least one to two million tons of rice in 2008 but the prediction turned out to be wrong," he said.
He said Indonesia was able to meet its domestic need for rice and there was the possibility that Indonesia would import rice again was small so that there would be a rice surplus in the world market.
"That is why the rice price in the world market has fallen of late," the Bulog chief said.
He said Indonesia had succeeded in increasing its rice production at home this year to 2.7 million tons. At the end of the year it was even predicted to produce three million tons of rice.
