3,850 tons of Vietnamese rice arrives in Lombok

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 01/26/2011 1:54 PM | Archipelago

A total of 3,850 tons of rice from Vietnam arrived in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Wednesday, the local Logistic Agency (Bulog) says.

The delivery was part of the 10,000 tons of low-quality rice that will be imported by the government this year to boost local stocks, tempointeraktif.com reports.

Bulog West Nusa Tenggara public relations officer Mahmud Zainal said the government had imported the rice in anticipating rice shortages resulting from bad weather conditions, as had occurred last year in the province, one of Indonesia’s main rice producers after Java.

Earlier, Bulog regional division chief Djibran AM Asran had said this year the provincial agency would purchase 180,000 tons of rice as part of the national procurement of 3.5 million tons. Bulog was expected to buy rice from local farmers starting from the end February.