The quality of the government’s rice reserve stocks (CBP) stored by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in 2022 is good so they do not need to be released and sold below market prices, an official said.
“This condition (release of CBP at a low price) is possible. However, with utmost care and maintenance carried out by Bulog, the condition of the stored 2022 rice is all of good quality,” head of public relations and institutional affairs at Bulog Tomi Wijaya said here on Wednesday.
He informed that based on the Agriculture Minister’s Regulation Number 38 of 2018 on the management of CBP, the release of rice reserve stocks can be carried out if they have exceeded the shelf-life limit of at least four months and/or have the potential for or have experienced a decline in quality.
Rice reserves have the potential for or can experience a decline in quality if they meet the criteria of at least a milling degree below the minimum threshold and contain broken grains and water above the maximum threshold.
Article 7 of the Minister of Agriculture’s Regulation Number 38 of 2018 states that the release of CBP can be carried out by Bulog through sale, processing, exchange, and or grants.
Article 8 of the regulation states that the sale can be carried out by selling CBP below the retail price ceiling (HET) of rice.
Earlier, during a working meeting with Commission IV of the House of Representatives (DPR) on Monday (January 16, 2023), Bulog president director Budi Waseso said that the National Food Agency had proposed that Bulog’s CBP stock in 2023 be increased to 2.4 million tons from the initial plan of 1 million tons.
To maintain the quality of CBP, rice that has been stored for four months at Bulog warehouses can be sold at a price below the purchase price, with the difference in price compensated by the government.
With that plan, he said he believes that there would be no Bulog rice of reduced quality as a result of being stored in warehouses for too long.
The plan could be carried out, but since the CBP throughout 2022 was maintained in good quality, there is no further plan to release CBP at a price below the HET, he said.
Source: Antara News