No Regulation Yet for Inter-Islands Rice Trade
Tuesday, 22 April, 2008 | 15:26 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government does not think it is necessary to regulate inter-islands rice trade since it will make use of rice distribution and consumers will suffer, for it will increase the rice price.


“We do not want to hamper basic commodity distribution to the people,” said Director General for Domestic Trade Ardiansyah Parman, Tuesday (22/4) in Jakarta.


He also mentioned about more regions having a rice deficit rather than a surplus. Out of 33 provinces, there are only 11 provinces with more than 100 thousands tons of rice surplus including Central Java, East Java, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi.


“We do not want to block distribution by implementing inter-island regulations,” said Ardiansyah.


Although the domestic rice price is cheaper than the international price, the government is certain that the regulation about rice exporting will be enough to stop illegal rice exporting. The regulation issued by the trade minister, No. 12/M-DAG/PER/4/2008 firmly forbids rice exporting when the domestic supply is not sufficient.


“Rice exporting will be controlled only by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and approved by the Trade Department. Bulog cannot export if the trade department does not approve it,” he said.

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