VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Trade Ministry granted the permission to import rice. The imported rice is of special quality with the amount of 500,000 tons.  Trade Minister  Enggartiasto Lukita stated that the import permit was issued at the beginning of the month. He added that the rice will be received in January or February. The Minister revealed that the import is handled by state-owned Indonesian Trading Company (PPI). PPI will prepare their funds for the import without using State Budget funds. Rice import policy was taken to ensure sufficient supply. In addition, the imported rice is expected to push down the high price of rice. Minister Enggartiasto guarantees that companies working together in this import will not set a high selling price and will set the price at the range of Rp9,540. In addition, he urged traders to stop hoarding rice since additional rice supplies will enter the market and bring down the price//tempo