By : Sapariah Saturi Harsono
THE export is important to stabilize rice price domestically. INDONESIA was once known as a staple food importer. It annually bought overseas rice, corn, flour, soya bean, etc. During the President Suharto era, his administration improved food production in a bid to be self-sufficiency.
Last year, Indonesia totally stopped importing rice, its most important staple food. According to Statistics Indonesia, unhusked rice production reached 60.26 tones last year.
This year, the Ministry of Agriculture estimated that the national unhusked rice production might reach 63.5 tones or around 35.9 tones of rice. National consumption is around 30.9 tones. The surplus is around five tones.
In a bid to prevent the rice price declining, the government plans to export the surplus rice. It will export the premium rice. Some countries, including Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, have indicated their eagerness to buy Indonesian rice. The government does not want to export the medium quality rice, as it wants to wait the local market secured. The government really wants to be sure that the surplus will reach five tones.
Bulog, Indonesia's state-owned logistic company, is going to be the sole rice exporter. Bulog President Director Mustafa Abubakar recently said that Bulog plans to export premium rice, between 10,000 and 20,000 tones per month.
"Rice with the super quality, like Cianjur and Aromatik, are favorable overseas. Japan already sampled the rice from East Java and Central Java," he said.
The premium rice export also demands that its broken grain is fewer than five percent. Now Bulog is working with companies prepared to export the premium rice. He said the would-be exported rice basically belong to private companies. But Bulog is the only company in Indonesia given the permit to export rice. "The export, probably starting in February, but we are still waiting for the permit from the Ministry of Trade," he said.
He described that Bulog chose the premium rice on the grounds that its market is segmented while its price range wide. Medium quality rice also has its market in the Philippines, Malaysia and East Timor.
Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said Bulog could actually export rice without waiting for the final result of national rice production. The export is important to stabilize rice price domestically. "If the rice production is plentiful, it will trigger the price to decline. Farmers will get the impact." His ministry estimates that the surplus this year will be 3.8 tones higher than the 2008 production.
Economist Bustanul Arifin of the Lampung University, however, cautioned the government on the rice surplus. He said Statistics Indonesia's calculation method is questionable. The method did not change over the last two decades.
He stressed that the statistic agency never calculate the land conversion as well as natural disaster. They changed the farming areas. "Rice production, ironically, always increase as we see more and more natural disasters," he said.
Statistic Indonesia only calculates the areas of rice fields, increasing the figures years after years. "It's true that the rice production in 2008 was plentiful. It actually happened because our rice consumption was lower than the rice production. It creates some surplus"
Let's hope that the Statistic Indonesia's prediction is to be correct, or at least, the rice production will be the same with last year's figure. If it is to happen, at least, the rice self-sufficiency situation will be longer, not just one or two years. It should also be accompanied by diversifying the staple foods.
From: Indonesia Rising, 2 February 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Mass Dismissal Threatens Workers
By : Sapariah Saturi Harsono
THE U.S.-triggered global financial crisis at first only hit Jakarta’s financial sector. But now this global crisis began to hit the real sector. It lowered market demands from the U.S. and Europe. Domestically, it also weakened consumers’ buying power. They make things very difficult for the business sector.
Crude oil price had decreased, from US$147 per barrel in July 2008 to only $42 last month. It also lowered the prices of agricultural produces. The Indonesian rupiah also weakened, going down from around 10,000 to the American dollar to 12,000 in the last three months. Liquidity is also an issue. It badly affects the real sector.
The crisis also prompted many industries to reduce their production down to 30 percent in a bid to reduce their financial burden. Workers dismissals take place more and more frequently, especially among the labor-intensive industries such as plantation, garment, construction etc. In 2009, several institutions estimated that around one million workers might lose their jobs.
The government tried to anticipate this mass dismissal. Four ministers –Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto, Man Power and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno, Industry Minister Fahmi Idris and Trade Minister Mari E. Pangestu—jointly issued a new regulation. It tried to keep economic growth. One of their points was to allow bi-partite decision in setting wages: only the company and the workers. Many unions protested the joint decree, saying that it might be exploited by employers to lower wages.
Meanwhile, mass dismissal is taking place. Ade Sudrajat Usman of the Indonesian Textile Association said that employers do not have other options as demands from the U.S. and Europe had decreased significantly. More than 50 percent of Indonesia’s textile are exported to the U.S. and Europe.
So, according to Usman, they have no other option but laying off their workers. About 100,000 textile workers are going to lose their jobs between November 2008 and March 2009.
The government is expected to anticipate these mass dismissal. The government has promised to spend Rp 100 trillion to cushion the dismissal. It will be spent on infrastructure construction, social network program, small business credit etc.
They are good promgras. But they are still on paper. Sofjan Wanandi of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) called on the government to implement these programs as soon as possible, saying that it will help solve the dismissal. “The slowing down of our economic growth forced industries to cut production 20 to 30 percent, making mass dismissal unavoidable.”
If the stimulating funds are to materialize, the dismissed workers could immediately work in the government-financed programs.
Wanandi’s Apindo predicted that 500,000 to one million workers will lose their job this year. Last year, 100,000 workers already lost their jobs.
From: Indonesia Rising, 5 January 2009
THE U.S.-triggered global financial crisis at first only hit Jakarta’s financial sector. But now this global crisis began to hit the real sector. It lowered market demands from the U.S. and Europe. Domestically, it also weakened consumers’ buying power. They make things very difficult for the business sector.
Crude oil price had decreased, from US$147 per barrel in July 2008 to only $42 last month. It also lowered the prices of agricultural produces. The Indonesian rupiah also weakened, going down from around 10,000 to the American dollar to 12,000 in the last three months. Liquidity is also an issue. It badly affects the real sector.
The crisis also prompted many industries to reduce their production down to 30 percent in a bid to reduce their financial burden. Workers dismissals take place more and more frequently, especially among the labor-intensive industries such as plantation, garment, construction etc. In 2009, several institutions estimated that around one million workers might lose their jobs.
The government tried to anticipate this mass dismissal. Four ministers –Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto, Man Power and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno, Industry Minister Fahmi Idris and Trade Minister Mari E. Pangestu—jointly issued a new regulation. It tried to keep economic growth. One of their points was to allow bi-partite decision in setting wages: only the company and the workers. Many unions protested the joint decree, saying that it might be exploited by employers to lower wages.
Meanwhile, mass dismissal is taking place. Ade Sudrajat Usman of the Indonesian Textile Association said that employers do not have other options as demands from the U.S. and Europe had decreased significantly. More than 50 percent of Indonesia’s textile are exported to the U.S. and Europe.
So, according to Usman, they have no other option but laying off their workers. About 100,000 textile workers are going to lose their jobs between November 2008 and March 2009.
The government is expected to anticipate these mass dismissal. The government has promised to spend Rp 100 trillion to cushion the dismissal. It will be spent on infrastructure construction, social network program, small business credit etc.
They are good promgras. But they are still on paper. Sofjan Wanandi of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) called on the government to implement these programs as soon as possible, saying that it will help solve the dismissal. “The slowing down of our economic growth forced industries to cut production 20 to 30 percent, making mass dismissal unavoidable.”
If the stimulating funds are to materialize, the dismissed workers could immediately work in the government-financed programs.
Wanandi’s Apindo predicted that 500,000 to one million workers will lose their job this year. Last year, 100,000 workers already lost their jobs.
From: Indonesia Rising, 5 January 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
