Indonesia adds 1 million tonnes of SPHP rice as dry season threatens supply

Government expands market intervention

Indonesia will add 1 million tonnes of medium rice to the government’s Food Supply and Price Stabilization program, known as SPHP, as a prolonged dry season and El Niño conditions raise concerns about domestic output and market supply. The decision followed a coordination meeting in Jakarta on 7 September 2026 involving Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan, Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman and state food procurement agency Perum Bulog.

Okezone reported that Amran described national rice production and food availability as secure, while acknowledging that the government was acting early to limit pressure on supply and consumer prices. NTV News presented a more severe assessment from Zulkifli, who said dry-season paddy production had fallen sharply and that prices could rise by Rp100-Rp200. The two accounts therefore combine official assurances about aggregate availability with evidence of a seasonal production gap at farm level.

SPHP rice targets affordable retail prices

The additional SPHP allocation is intended to move subsidized medium rice through multiple distribution channels, including retail networks. NTV News said the intervention aims to keep rice available at Rp12,000-Rp12,500 per kilogram. The publication described the extra volume as intended for October, November and December 2024, although the announcement and meeting were dated 7 September 2026 in the supplied reports, leaving the stated distribution period inconsistent with the reporting date.

The government also plans to place both medium and premium rice in retail stores and conduct large-scale market operations. SPHP packaging will be renamed “Beras Kita,” with separate medium and premium products. According to NTV News, the blue-dominated packaging is scheduled to be officially launched on 20 October.

Food assistance brought forward

Rice assistance for households in income deciles 1 through 4 will be accelerated. The measure covers about 33.33 million people. Instead of receiving 10 kilograms each month, every recipient will receive 30 kilograms at once during the current month, representing three monthly allocations. Zulkifli instructed Bulog to complete the combined distribution immediately, increasing the volume of rice entering household channels before the next month.

The accelerated aid serves two purposes: protecting vulnerable consumers from higher prices and releasing state-held grain into the market during the lean season. Its effect will depend on distribution speed and Bulog’s ability to prevent supply gaps across Indonesia’s dispersed regional markets. No figure for total Bulog rice inventories was provided, and the government did not announce additional rice imports in the supplied material.

Corn released and ageing rice auctioned

Drought pressure also extends to corn. Bulog has been ordered to distribute 150,000 tonnes of SPHP corn specifically to small and medium-sized livestock farmers rather than large factories. The measure is designed to contain feed costs and support smaller livestock producers whose margins are exposed to higher grain prices.

The government will separately auction about 300,000 tonnes of broken rice whose quality has declined after storage for as long as two years in Bulog warehouses. The minimum auction price will be Rp11,000 per kilogram, and flour processors are the intended buyers. Amran also said imports of broken rice would be stopped. Redirecting older stocks to industrial use could reduce warehouse losses and ease flour prices, but the broader rice balance will still depend on the depth of the dry-season production decline and the execution of the 1-million-tonne SPHP release.