Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Indonesia, Vietnam extend MoU on rice until 2017

Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Posted by Shoaib-ur-Rehman Siddiqui  
JAKARTA: Indonesia and Vietnam have extended a pact on rice supplies until the end of 2017, a trade ministry statement said on Tuesday, as Jakarta seeks to increase stockpiles of the staple grain to hedge against food inflation.

Last week, Indonesia's state procurement agency Bulog said it had a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vietnam for 1.5 million tonnes which was due to expire in January.

The MoU was extended from Jan. 1, 2013 until Dec. 31, 2017, Indonesia's trade ministry said in a statement following talks with Vietnam.

"With the signing of the memorandum of understanding, we hope it can support the national food security programme," Indonesia's Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said.

"A similar MoU has been signed with several rice producer countries in ASEAN, such as Cambodia and Thailand, which aims to provide alternative rice buffers for Indonesia when needed."

Indonesia last year imported 1.9 million tonnes of rice from Thailand, Vietnam and India to ensure it had plentiful stocks of rice to avoid food inflation.

Indonesia's main rice harvest is usually in June or August, with a second crop towards the end of the first quarter.

It expects unmilled rice output to be about 68 million tonnes this year, and has ambitious plans to maintain stocks of 10 million tonnes by 2014.

Indonesia was self-sufficient in rice in the early 1980s, but the crop gradually declined as farmland was turned into housing for a booming population. Monthly rice consumption stands at about 2.7 million tonnes.

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