Director General of Internal Trade of the Ministry of Trade Oke Nurwan said the rice stocks now accounted for 1.9 million tons, an amount adequate to supply the needs for seven months.
"Stocks of agricultural products such as rice, maize and soybean could meet the needs for the next three to seven months," Oke Nurwan stated at his office here on Wednesday.
Data at the Ministry of Trade showed that rice stocks at the state logistics board, Bulog, now stand at 1,987,07 tons, enough for 7.19 months. Of this amount, 1,803,484 tons are stocks held by the Bulog, 183,586 tons are commercial stocks and 32,151 tons are governments rice reserve stocks.
"Stocks of crystal white sugar amount to 288,000 tons, which are adequate to supply the needs for 1.3 months. The average need for sugar per month is 220,000 tons," Oke noted.
The needs for meat could also be met for the next 1.4 months as feedlot cows still account for 196,244 heads, local cows 10,906 heads while 45,000 others are to be imported.
"We still have enough beef which is adequate to supply the needs for 1.4 months. With the allocation to import 70,000 buffaloes, we will have enough meat stocks until the end of the year," he observed.
Chicken meat supplies are in surplus of about 5,000 tons per week. On an average, the normal need is pegged at 46,000 tons per week while stocks reach 51,000 tons per week.
Stocks of shallots, red chili and cayenne pepper are adequate for until the end of the year. Cooking oil and wheat flour stocks are adequate for one or two months. Besides, production will continue till the end of the year.
Cooking oil stocks are recorded at 144,000 tons, enough to meet the needs for six weeks; wheat flour at 988,000 tons, enough for 1.7 months; and grain at 1.3 million tons. Soybean stocks have reached 500 thousand tons, of which 240 thousand tons are at importers warehouses and 260 thousand tons will be imported.
Shallot stocks at the Pasar Kramat Jati wholesale market have reached 82 tons with the average stock of 86 tons per week. During normal conditions, these stocks reach 85-100 tons per week.
However, chili supply is experiencing a deficit of 49 tons per day. Stock data on Sunday (Oct 3) showed 111 tons with an average weekly supply of 101 tons. During normal conditions, the average supplies reach 150 - 200 tons per day.
The shortage of chili stocks caused an average increase of 8.37 percent in the price of red curly chili from Rp33,700 per kg to Rp36,520 per kg. The price of red jumbo chili also increased by about 10.21 percent from Rp32,410 per kg to Rp35,720 per kg.
The highest increase of 88.60 percent was recorded in Jambi, increasing from Rp23,330 per kg to Rp44,000 per kg.(WDY)
