He said rice prices nationwide have shown a downward trend in recent weeks due to the government’s control measures.
"Rice prices have dropped across Indonesia, but we must not be complacent. God willing, supervision will be tightened further,” Sulaiman said in a statement here on Saturday.
Although prices have declined, he emphasized that the government will continue to strengthen monitoring efforts through the National Food Agency (Bapanas) and the Rice Price Control Task Force to ensure retail prices remain within the maximum retail price across provinces.
“There are still some regions, especially non-producing areas such as Papua, where prices exceed the maximum retail price. However, in Merauke, South Papua, prices are stable due to the food estate program,” he explained.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), 225 districts and cities recorded rice price declines by the fourth week of October 2023.
In terms of provinces, only five out of 38 provinces saw positive development, while 33 recorded price depreciation, with South Papua noting the largest drop at 1.56 percent.
Nationally, medium rice prices fell 1.65 percent and premium rice 0.69 percent compared to September 2023.
The government, through the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), continues to optimize the distribution of rice under the Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) program.
Bulog continues distributing rice under the SPHP program, selling 564.6 thousand tons as of October 30, supported by a strong stock of 3.9 million tons.
Meanwhile, the Government Rice Reserve (CBP) accounted for 3.754 million tons, with the remainder being commercial stock.
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Translator: Harianto, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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