Bulog has Enough Rice Stock In Face Of Disaster

Jakarta, Jan 18 (ANTARA) - President Director of state logistics agency Bulog, Sutarto Alimoeso said his agency had enough rice stocks to anticipate possible extreme whether in several regions. "We have enough stocks," he said here on Thursday adding that Bulog had prepared rice stocks that were enough to meet demand in the coming eight months. He said that the state logistics agency was also ready to launch market operations when rice prices in the market experienced drastic increases. "The ideal rice stocks should be those that would meet a three-month need but we have ones which are able to meet the need for eight months, even in some provinces the stocks could meet demand for more than eight months," Sutarto said. But he expressed hope that the unpredictable weather of late would not cause difficulties in distributing logistics and prices increases. In the meantime, Sasmito Hadi Wibowo, deputy for service and distribution statistics affairs of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) said that the need for foodstuff in the face of extreme whether, particularly in Jakarta, must be met. Foodstuff like chili, union, fish and rice are main commodities which contribute to inflation in the country. If stocks of these commodities are not enough, the inflation rate in January will likely increase, though still below one percent, he said. "Admittedly, it is always hard to face this condition because the weather factor would cause the prices of chili, union, fish and rice to increase," he said. The PBS noted that the national inflation rate i 2012 was 4.3 percent, lower than the government target in the 2012 revised state budget at 6.8 percent. Of the inflation rate, 0.3 percent were contributed by rice, 0.22 percent by fish, 0.2 percent by gold ornament, 0.19 by kretek (clove) cigarettes and 0.19 percent by transportation tariff. In the meantime, beef contributed 0.17 percent, sugar and house rent respectively contributed 0.15 percent, garlic 0.14 percent and contract house tariff 0.13 percent.