We will wait and see until after the end of May because a grand harvest usually lasts until May."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The tap for rice imports is always open, especially when we have to deal with a shortage of the commodity, Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla said.

"The tap is always open, in case our production does not meet demand and it is required to make up for the deficit," he stated in his office here on Friday.

Citing an example, he pointed out that in case there is shortage of rice during the Islamic fasting month in June, it is possible that the country will import rice to meet the requirement.

However, the vice president added that the government had yet to study the agricultural reports collected from the fields.

"We will wait and see until after the end of May because a grand harvest usually lasts until May," he affirmed.

After the grand harvest, we will find out whether there is a shortage in national stock and whether imports will be needed, Kalla noted.

A researcher from the Trade Policy Development and Study Agency of the Ministry of Trade, Miftah Farid is of the opinion that rice imports will not be necessary if national production increased even minimally by 5 percent from the current total production and domestic absorption by logistics company Perum Bulog reached 8 percent of the total production hike.

"It (stoppage of imports) will happen when production rises by 5 percent and absorption by Bulog reaches 8 percent," he remarked here on Wednesday.

According to Farid, analyses found that when production increases, imports drop, but to achieve zero imports, production must increase by a minimum of 5 percent.

This 5 percent hike was calculated based on the total production in 2014, when the yield of dried unhulled rice reached 70.83 million tons, which was equal to 44.43 million tons of rice.

The hike comes to some 3.54 million tons of unhulled rice, which is 2.22 million tons of rice, Farid said.

Based on these calculations, production in 2015 must reach 78.34 million tons of unhulled rice, or 46.62 million tons of rice.

According to the target set by the Agriculture Ministry, total output in 2015 is expected to increase by 3.84 million tons, with the production of total unhulled rice reaching 73.40 million tons, equal to 46.14 million tons of rice.

(Reporting by Muhammad Razi Rahman/Uu.H-YH/INE/R-BSR/F001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2015