Jakarta. State logistics company Bulog recently reported that it had absorbed 800,000 tons of rice from local farmers so far this year as of Aug. 20.

Bulog’s president director Bayu Krisnamurthi recently said that his agency could absorb over 900,000 tons of rice throughout 2024. 

“We have about 1.35 million tons of rice in our warehouse as of Aug. 20. It will likely increase by another 400,000 tons from the imported rice. This imported rice is currently on its way or is being loaded onto ships from its origin countries,” Bayu told the state news agency Antara on Thursday.

The National Food Agency (Bapanas) previously asked Bulog to absorb as much locally produced rice as possible during the harvest period. 

“Bulog should move quickly to take advantage of the harvest period as an institution assigned by the government to distribute the rice stocks,” Arief said.