Anticipating El Nino, Government Considering Rice Imports from Pakistan and India

Trade Minister Thomas Lembong said it has not yet been ascertained how much is the appropriate price for importing rice from Pakistan and India, therefore it has not been ascertained when the government will import rice from the two countries.
`Bulog is still studying the classes of rice available from premium, medium, and lower. This is still under review, it takes time,` Thomas Lembong told reporters, at the office of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), Monday (11/1/2016).
Previously, in 2015 Indonesia has imported rice from Thailand and Vietnam, more than one million tons. Thomas said Indonesia still needs to expand the number of importing countries, to ensure the adequacy of rice supply.













`The concept is we want to expand the sources of food imports. We tend to import from one or two countries. We will study whether there are a third, fourth and fifth country,` he said.
On that occasion he also mentioned that the heat wave El Nino this year is predicted to hit in February. It is feared that this will once again disrupt the harvest of rice. Therefore the government must be prepared.
`Now we are preparing if there is a hit of El Nino in February, so it is still in the review stage,` he said.
Author: Nurmulia Rekso PurnomoEditor: Sanusi
http://www.tribunnews.com/bisnis/2016/01/12/antisipasi-el-nino-pemerintah-kaji-impor-beras-dari-pakistan-dan-india