Jakarta – The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) says its rice stock of 2.4 million tons is adequate to meet domestic demand. Therefore, the company assures that the country does not need to import the commodity.

"It indicates that we have strong stock," Bulog president director Budi Waseso said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said Bulog was committed to implementing its main duties – purchasing rice from farmers, carrying out market operations to stabilize prices and maintaining strong rice stocks to assure the availability of the commodity.

The agency is required to maintain between 1 and 1.5 million tons of rice that should be ready to be distributed to Bulog's warehouses across the country at any time.

"As a price stabilizing institution, Bulog continuously carries out market intervention. With it, the commodity should always be available and of good quality," Budi said, adding that since January, Bulog had released 384,328 tons rice for market operations, an average of 2,500 per day. Bulog will continue to monitor rice prices, said Budi.

Bulog purchases 3,000 tons of unhusked rice from farmers every day, he said, adding that with the absorption of farmers' rice, Bulog could also stock up until the end of 2018.(bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/31/no-need-to-import-rice-bulog.html