Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto assured that food stocks are adequate through August 2020, as rice stocks have reached 3.5 million tons and are expected to increase with the additional production of 2.2 million tons

Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto assured that food stocks are adequate through August 2020, as rice stocks have reached 3.5 million tons and are expected to increase with the additional production of 2.2 million tons.

“Food stocks are adequate until August,” Suparmanto said during a press conference on developing a stimulus to counter the impact of COVID-19 here on Friday.

Corn stocks, he added, have reached some 580,000 tons and production, as of August, is expected to reach 13 million tons.

The ministry has issued a license to import 34,000 tons of garlic from China. “This will be conducted in stages until the end of the month, and there will be additional import recommendations for horticulture products for us to issue import licenses,” he said.

Supplies of red chili are also expected to increase,with the start of the harvesting period which lasts from March to May.

The minister noted that supplies of sugar are expected to reach 159,000 tons, and the ministry has tried to limit sugar price hikes by deploying task forces to monitor warehouses to avoid hoarding.

As for meat, supply has reached 14,000 tons, and the government has plans to increase the stock by 170,000 tons.

The present cooking oil stock is reported at 8.2 million tons. Also, 2,350 tons of onions will be distributed and its stock will climb, in stages, to 14,000 tons by April 2020.