JAKARTA, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia imported 3.85 million tons of rice from January to November this year, marking a 62 percent increase compared to the same period last year, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) reported on Monday.
The rice imports were valued at 2.36 billion U.S. dollars. This has marked a continued upward trend since 2022 when the import value was 0.15 billion dollars. In 2023, the country recorded 1.45 billion dollars in rice import value.
"The rice imports this year mainly came from Thailand, with a volume of 1.19 million tons, followed by Vietnam with 1.12 million tons, Myanmar with 663,410 tons, Pakistan with 642,140 tons, and India with 205,800 tons," said Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, acting head of the BPS, during a press conference.
Indonesia faced challenges in ensuring its domestic rice supply due to harvest failures caused by El Nino this year.
However, the Indonesian government recently set a target to produce 32 million tons of rice next year to achieve food self-sufficiency. ■