Tough Negotiations over Indian Rice Imports.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The government has started negotiations with India concerning a rice import plan to be conducted by the State Logistics Agency (Bulog). “If they ask for government-to-government negotiation, we will try to consider it. But so far they haven’t asked for it,” said deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi.

He said that negotiations over rice imports from India were still tough. “Bulog is still negotiating. There hasn’t been any official news,” he said yesterday.

While Bulog plans to import rice from India, the Indian government says it will facilitate the deal if Indonesia exempts the country from palm oil taxes. Bayu acknowledged that the quality of Indian rice quality was lower than Thailand.

Since early last month, Indonesia has continued to import rice. The idea to import it from India began when the country announced it was ready to import rice this month.

Source : tempointeractive.com