The Indonesian government has announced today (17 October) new plans for the implementation of quality standards on all rice imported into the country. The measures are in response to the flooding of the domestic market with poor-quality imported rice, which, the government now hopes, may be sold at lower prices or prevented from entering the country in the first place.
Syarifuddin Karama, director general of food crop production at the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, stated: “We hope that in the next one or two weeks, we could issue the (quality) standards.” He added that these standards will be imposed on the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and other more general importers.
Karama explained that: “With less imported rice in the domestic market, the price of unhusked rice is expected to increase.”
