On February 27, the Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia quoted Indonesian Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan as saying that the Indonesian Government has decided to increase the rice import quota by an additional 1.6 million tons in 2024 due to a shortage of domestic rice production.
Prior to this, the Indonesian Ministry of Trade had issued rice import permits for 2 million tons, so in 2024, the country will import 3.6 million tons of rice.
In recent days, rice prices in Indonesia have increased sharply due to severe supply shortages, with reports of rice shortages occurring in some supermarkets.
As of February 2024, Indonesia has experienced 8 consecutive months of rice shortages due to lower domestic production compared to demand. The Indonesian Minister of Trade had to urge people to switch to buying government-subsidized rice to avoid excessively high rice prices in the free market.
Retail rice prices in the market have reached 80,000 Ru-pi (equivalent to 5.17 USD/5kg or more than 25,000 VND/kg) compared to the government-regulated ceiling price of only 69,500 Ru-pi (4.45 USD/5kg).
According to the Indonesian Statistics Agency, in January 2024, the country imported 441,930 tons of rice, an increase of 82.19% compared to January 2023, with a value of 279.2 million USD.
Enterprise fulfilling export orders to the Indonesian market
In 2023, Indonesia has become the second largest importer of Vietnamese rice with a volume of over 1.1 million tons and revenue of over 640 million USD, a sharp increase of 878% in quantity and 992% in value compared to 2022.
The Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia predicts that with the current severe rice shortage, the Indonesian Government will have to soon open tenders to purchase more rice, in addition to the tender for purchasing 500,000 tons of rice at the beginning of 2024.
“Therefore, Vietnamese rice export enterprises need to closely monitor market information and take advantage of the opportunity to export rice to the Indonesian market in the early months of the year” – advised the Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, information about the shortage of rice supply worldwide has also caused rice prices to rise, with OM 5451 rice priced at 7,200 – 7,400 VND/kg, Jasmine 8 rice priced at 7,600 VND/kg, and IR50404 rice priced at 7,300 VND/kg.
