Indonesia will not import rice in 2012 and instead maintain high stock levels by buying 4 million tonnes of the staple grain from domestic sellers, state procurement agency Bulog said. Southeast Asia's biggest economy and the world's third-largest rice grower, issued permits to import 1.9 million tonnes of rice last year, from Vietnam, Thailand and India.
"Our target in 2012 is no rice import," said Bulog's CEO Sutarto Alimoeso late on Wednesday. "We are optimistic to procure all 4 million tonnes of rice domestically in 2012 - if the rice production target of 72.02 million tonnes can be achieved."
Indonesia's unmilled rice output is expected to rise 10 percent to 72.02 million tonnes this year as it expands plantation areas. The world's most populous Muslim nation likes to keep large stocks of rice to guard against possible food inflation and production problems should they arise. "In 2012 we also will distribute rice for the poor of 3.1 million tonnes," Alimoeso added. "The rice will be distributed every month for the whole year."
Indonesia has about 240 million mouths to feed, with monthly rice consumption at around 2.7 million tonnes and growing. The country was self-sufficient in rice in the early 1980s before farmland was turned into housing for a booming population, while rampant smuggling put pressure on local growers.
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