Hanoi (VNA) – Indonesia is considering the import of 1 million tonnes of rice from India next year to ensure supply until its main harvest, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan has said.
The country’s rice output is estimated to fall 2.43% this year to 30.34 million tonnes, due to a delay in planting and harvest seasons amid longer dry weather in 2023, the statistics bureau said earlier this month as reported by Reuters.
Head of National Food Agency Arief Prasetyo Adi told reporters after the meeting with Hasan that there is a need for an additional 1 million tonnes to go through February. Output in December-February period is usually lower, the official added.
Rice is a staple for most of Indonesia's 280 million population and the main rice harvest typically starts in March. Its rice imports have jumped in the past two years, reaching over 3 million tonnes each year.
The Southeast Asian country aims to import up to 3.6 million tons of rice this year. It also plans to have between 750,000 hectares and 1 million hectares of new rice fields in 2025 to achieve President Prabowo Subianto's food self-reliance target.
The world's largest rice exporter India has removed the floor price for the export of non-basmati white rice this month to boost exports due to expectation of higher output and stocks piling up since the 2023 export restrictions./.
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