Indonesia's Bulog proposes premium SPHP rice to curb rising prices
Indonesia's state logistics agency Bulog has proposed a premium-grade version of its SPHP price-stabilization rice to rein in rising premium rice prices. The proposal is before the Agriculture and Food ministers, with price and volume still undecided. The Rp14,900 per kilogram premium retail ceiling will serve as a reference.
Bulog targets the premium rice segment
Perum Bulog, Indonesia's state food logistics agency, has proposed introducing a premium-grade version of its Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) rice as a market-operation instrument to rein in rising premium rice prices, Ekonomi Okezone reported. The agency's president director, Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani, said the proposal has already been submitted to the Minister of Agriculture and the Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs to inform the government's next policy decisions.
The measure would widen Bulog's price-stabilization toolkit. “For this rise in premium rice prices, we are also preparing premium SPHP rice. So it is not only medium SPHP rice; we are also trying to launch premium SPHP rice,” Ramdhani said, as quoted by Ekonomi Okezone.
Why medium-grade rice is not enough
Until now, Bulog's market operations have relied on medium-grade SPHP rice. Ramdhani said that approach has proved ineffective at pushing down the price of premium rice, which has been climbing. “Whenever premium rice prices rise, flooding the market with medium SPHP rice does not hit the mark. So market operations must also be carried out with premium SPHP rice,” he said. Bulog has drawn up the premium concept precisely so that government intervention reaches the segment where prices are actually rising.
The distinction matters for the market because the two grades serve different buyers. Interventions aimed at medium-grade rice do little to relieve households and traders exposed to the premium tier, leaving that higher-value part of the market to move on its own.
Price anchored to the Rp14,900 ceiling
Ramdhani said Bulog cannot yet disclose the selling price of premium SPHP rice, because the plan still awaits discussion and a decision at a limited government coordination meeting involving the relevant ministries and agencies. He indicated the government will use the maximum retail price (HET) for premium rice of Rp14,900 per kilogram as one reference in setting the program's pricing.
The government will also calculate the production cost of premium rice so that any resulting policy keeps a balance between the interests of consumers and those of businesses along the supply chain, according to the report.
Allocation volume still undecided
Bulog has not fixed an allocation for premium SPHP rice either. Ramdhani said distribution volumes will be adjusted to community needs and to demand as it develops in the field. The agency framed the premium product as a complement to, not a replacement for, the medium SPHP rice used in ongoing market operations.
For rice traders and analysts, the proposal signals that Jakarta intends to manage premium-segment prices through domestic stock intervention rather than leaving the higher-value part of the market to adjust on its own. The scale and effectiveness of that intervention will depend on the price and the volume that the coordination meeting ultimately approves.
