10,000 Tons of Indian Rice Immediately Enter North Sumatra

INDUSTRY.co.id - Medan - A total of 10,000 tons of imported rice from India will go to North Sumatra (Sumatra) after last Saturday has come 10,000 tons from Thailand.

"Rice from India is scheduled to enter Indonesia in late February 2018 and as many as 10,000 tons will be supplied to North Sumatra," said Head of North Sumatera Bulog, Benhur Ngkaimi in Medan, Monday (26/2/2018).

On Saturday, February 24 as many as 10,000 tons of rice from Thailand has entered North Sumatra.

Rice from Thailand is in the process of unloading from the ship and into the warehouse with estimates can be completed for a week.

"Bulog Warehouse is ready to receive imported rice from India because Bulog's warehouse capacity in North Sumatra is 80,000 tons," said Benhur.

Benhur asserted with the re-entry of imported rice from India, then the stock of Bulog rice more secure.

Bulog Bulog rice stock is safe until at least May 2018.

"With a lot of stock, Bulog is also freer to OP (market operations) to be able to stabilize the price of rice in the market of North Sumatra," said Benhur.

The price of rice in the market of North Sumatra has started to fall to in the range of Rp10,500 - Rp11,000 per kilogram (kg).

Bulog expects rice prices in North Sumatra to return to normal at around Rp9,500 per kg.

Head of Domestic Trade Department of Industry and Trade of North Sumatra, Misbah said, the price of rice has gone down, but has not returned to normal prices.

"Therefore TPID (Regional Inflation Control Team) of North Sumatra agreed to Bulog to do rice OP," he said.

The re-entry of imported rice from India is also expected to further stabilize the price of rice in the market of North Sumatra.