Indonesia has appointed two surveyors to check rice shipments in a bid to prevent smuggling of the country's main staples, the trade ministry said on Monday. The appointment of the two surveyors comes after Southeast Asia's largest rice consumer curbed rice exports in mid-April to help build up domestic stocks amid soaring global rice prices.
Indonesia is not a big rice exporter, shipping just 50,000 tonnes of organic rice last year, but its prices are lower than global rice prices, which raised concerns over the possibility of rice smuggling, especially into neighbouring Philippines.
The Trade Ministry appointed state surveyors PT Sucofindo and PT Surveyor Indonesia to check rice exports, including volume, type of rice, loading and destination ports, as well as exporting companies, the ministry said on its website.The two surveyors have been responsible for checking rice imports since 2004.
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