Indonesia looking to import 1 million tonnes of rice from China

The Indonesian government is looking to import one million tonnes of rice from China in a bid to bolster its stockpiles, the head of the National Food Agency (NFA) said on Tuesday (Sep 26).

South-east Asia’s most populous country, with 270 million people, has assigned state food procurement agency Bulog to import 2.3 million tonnes of rice this year, to blunt the impact of the El Nino weather pattern – typically associated with extreme weather events from wildfires to droughts – as hot weather in key growing regions across Asia threatens harvests.

The NFA estimated that drought in several parts of the country, worsened by the El Nino weather phenomenon, could shrink rice output by 5 per cent to 7 per cent this year, from 31.54 million tonnes last year.

“We have opened an option to import one million tonnes of rice from China,” Arief Prasetyo Adi, head of the NFA, told Reuters.

“The president discussed this with his counterparts during the Asean summit,” he added.

Arief said that Indonesia is also talking to Cambodia, which has agreed to export 10,000 tonnes of rice.

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According to the country’s statistics agency, Indonesia imported 1.59 million tonnes of rice in the January-August period, up from 237,146 tonnes imported during the same period a year ago.

More than half of the shipments originated from Thailand at 802,000 tonnes, followed by shipments from Vietnam at 674,000 tonnes, 66,000 tonnes from India and 45,000 tonnes from Pakistan.

Rice prices rose at the fastest pace in over a decade. The average climbed as much as 16 per cent from the same month a year earlier to 14,000 rupiah (S$1.23) per kg, the highest since at least March 2017, central bank data showed.

Previously, President Joko Widodo said that the country’s rice stock is sufficient amid rising prices. REUTERS