JAKARTA (XINHUA) – The extreme El Nino phenomenon in Indonesia has disrupted the rice production in the largest economy of Southeast Asia, which has resorted to imports to secure domestic stocks.
A prolonged drought resulting in lower rice production has pushed the rice price to soar, which could be directly felt by the public. Food stall owner Yanto in East Jakarta said his profits had been significantly declining since August.
As his customers were lower-income people, he could not increase his prices. He eventually chose to reduce the portion of rice he served to customers.
“I have many customers because I sell cheap food. If I raise the prices, they will go. But even when I have reduced the portion, that does not really help. I lose profits by around IDR1 million (about USD64) each month,” Yanto told Xinhua.
Strong El Nino phenomenon typically means less rainfall for the thirsty crop.
Chairman of the Indonesian Rice Millers and Traders Association (Perpadi), Sutarto Alimoeso told local media that grain supply at the end of this year was still far from the national milling needs. Some mills have chosen to stop production until the supply would return to normal.
The rice scarcity period was also projected to be longer than usual. As a result, the high price of rice would be felt longer by the public, said Alimoeso.
Acting Agriculture Minister and head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi confirmed in October that the impact of El Nino reduced Indonesia’s rice production by 1.2 million tonnes.
The disturbed rice production also contributed to the rising inflation rate. According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the consumer price index was recorded at 2.56 per cent year-on-year in October, up slightly compared to the previous month of 2.28 per cent, due to raised prices of necessities such as rice.
