Kupastuntas.co, Bandar Lampung - The price of rice in a number of markets in Bandar Lampung is increasing. Premium rice used to be sold at IDR 100,000 per bag containing 10 kilograms, now it has increased to IDR 128,000 per bag. It is also increasingly difficult for traders to get supplies of rice.

Monitoring at Pasar Tamin, Bandar Lampung, the price of premium rice used to be sold at IDR 100,000 per bag containing 10 kilograms (kg). Currently, the price has risen to IDR 128,000 per bag.

Wawan, a trader at Pasar Tamin said that currently the price of rice has not gone up anymore but has changed prices. Because the price increase is very significant.

“Rice prices are not going up anymore but prices have changed. "The price of premium rice, which I previously sold for IDR 100 thousand per 10 kg bag, has now increased to IDR 128 thousand per bag," said Wawan, Sunday (3/9/23).

In addition to the drastic increase in prices, continued Wawan, it is also increasingly difficult for traders to get supplies of rice to sell. “The last few days I have been looking for rice to sell again but many are empty. So indeed the supply is also reduced. Maybe due to the impact of this long drought," he said.

Mujiono, a trader at Pasir Gintung Market, also said the same thing if the price of rice is currently rising very drastically.

"What's increasing now is rice. Medium quality rice was previously priced at IDR 12,000 per kg, now it has increased to IDR 13,000 per kg. Premium quality was previously IDR 13,000 per kg, now it has increased to IDR 14,000 per kg," said Mujiono.

Mujiono said the increase in rice prices had occurred two weeks ago. "If this rice is facing a drought, maybe a lot of crops will fail, so the price will rise because stocks will start to decrease," he said.

Asep, a trader at Smep Market, Bandar Lampung, said that the drastic price increase had resulted in a decrease in turnover. "Yes, it's clear that it has an effect on buyers. So turnover also goes down," he said.

Meanwhile, Perum Bulog Lampung Regional Office (Kanwil) continues to increase the amount of rice distributed through the Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) program to maintain rice price stability during the dry season.

"In anticipating the impact of this dry season, we have asked branch offices and sub-branch offices to continue to help increase the number and frequency of SPHP," said Acting Head of Perum Bulog Lampung Regional Office, Nurman Susilo, Sunday (3/9).

Nurman said the effort was made to maintain the stability of commodity prices, especially rice during the dry season.

"We continue to increase the number of markets and shops in the markets that participate in SPHP, and are starting to also enter modern retail so that the frequency increases. For SPHP, we hope to increase by another 20 to 30 percent from the number of markets that have currently been implemented," he said.

He explained that currently rice market operations or SPHP have entered 150 markets and 635 shops inside markets and outside markets in the Lampung area.

"On the downstream side, we continue to carry out market operations or SPHP, this has been included in 150 markets and 635 shops inside and outside the market. This effort is to keep the price of rice from rising. It is hoped that the price of grain will also be pushed down by continuing to carry out SPHP in the downstream side. So people can get prices that tend to be affordable and then the stock becomes a lot," he said.

His party also continues to prepare rice stocks in warehouses to meet market needs in order to reduce rice price fluctuations that occur in society.

"The rice distributed for SPHP until the end of August 2023 has reached 18,285 tons throughout the Lampung region. This has been done for eight months. The estimated rice distributed is approximately 2,200 tons per month. With El Nino, it is possible that demand will increase by around 3,000 to 4,000 tons per month ," he explained.

Nurman explained that the current stock of rice is 29,185 tons. According to him, this amount is sufficient to meet the market until the end of the year.

"Currently, even though there is a policy to reduce rice exports from India and several other countries, we continue to try to find other channels to reduce prices. We estimate that there will be an additional stock of 4,000 tons for the gadu harvest so that rice availability remains maintained," he explained.

He explained, by carrying out SPHP regularly, it is hoped that the community can get rice prices in accordance with the highest retail price (HET), namely IDR 9,450/kilogram or IDR 47,250 per five kilogram packaged bag.

"With the gadu harvest which will soon take place, it is hoped that we can maintain the stability of grain prices so that they do not soar too high despite the El Nino phenomenon," he added. (*)

This news was published in the upas Tuntas daily newspaper Monday 4 September 2023 edition with the title "Rice Prices Are Increasingly Soaring"