Editorial Team 

JAKARTA – The Indonesian  government’s rice reserves reach 4.5 million tons, much larger than the buffer stocks reported by Malaysia and the Philippines. Perum Bulog said the stock was enough to maintain the national supply by the end of the year. However, the size of the stock must also be followed by distribution so that the benefits are felt by the community.

President Director of Perum Bulog Ahmad Rizal Ramdhani said the rice reserves managed by the Indonesian government are currently among the largest in Southeast Asia.

“Indonesia is further strengthening its position as one of the countries with strong government rice reserves in the Southeast Asian region,” Rizal said in Jakarta, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, October 27.

Based on data collected by Bulog, Malaysia has a national rice buffer stock of around 200,000 tons in August 2026. Meanwhile, the rice reserves managed by the National Food Authority (NFA) of the Philippines are estimated to reach 286,500 tons per 1 September 2026.

With a stock of 4.5 million tons, Indonesia’s government rice reserves are nominally 22.5 times that of Malaysia and about 15.7 times that of the Philippines.

However, the comparison is not entirely equivalent because the coverage of reserves and recording time of each country is different.

Vietnam, for example, reported the procurement of 500,000 tons of national food reserves throughout 2025. However, this figure is the amount of procurement for one year, not the latest stock position.

Meanwhile, the data on the government rice reserves of Thailand and Myanmar have not been sufficiently confirmed to be compared with Indonesia.

The size of Bulog’s stock is supported by the absorption of domestic farmers’ wheat and rice which exceeds the government’s target.

As of October 27, 2026, the procurement of domestic wheat and rice has reached 4,238,543 tons of rice equivalent. This amount is equivalent to 105.96 percent of the government’s target of 4 million tons.

Bulog calls this achievement the highest procurement record in the company’s history.

Rizal said the available stock became capital to maintain food supplies, especially in the face of increased community needs ahead of Christmas 2026 and New Year 2027.

“People don’t need to worry about the availability of rice before Christmas and New Year. The rice stock managed by Bulog is currently very adequate, reaching around 4.5 million tons,” he said.

However, Rizal emphasized that the size of the reserves must be balanced with the right distribution. The available rice needs to reach the community while helping to maintain prices in the market.

Therefore, Bulog has accelerated distribution through the Food Supply and Price Stabilization (SPHP) program and rice food assistance.

“The government’s instructions are very clear, abundant stocks must provide real benefits to the community. Therefore, Bulog not only ensures that rice is available in warehouses, but also accelerates its distribution through SPHP and food assistance,” said Rizal.

The government has prepared an additional allocation of 1 million tons of SPHP rice. This program is aimed at strengthening supply in the market and keeping rice prices affordable.

Meanwhile, the rice food assistance for the period October to December 2026 again targets around 33.2 million recipients.

Each recipient receives an allocation of 10 kilograms of rice per month for three months.

Bulog relies on its warehouse and distribution network in various regions to accelerate the distribution of the two programs.

With a reserve of around 4.5 million tons, Bulog is now carrying out the task of maintaining the availability of rice while expanding distribution to the community towards the end of the year.

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Published Date: October 29, 2026