JAKARTA (Xinhua) - ASEAN countries plus China, Japan and South Korea will provide 720,000 tons of rice reserve this year to cope with the impact of rising foods prices, Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono said here on Monday.
The so called Asean+3 Emergency Rice Reserve will kick off in October when the countries sign the agreement during the 32th ASEAN agricultural and forestry ministerial meeting in Cambodia, Suswono said.
The biggest contributor to the reserve is Japan with 220,000 tons of rice, followed by China and South Korea each with 200,000 tons, said Suswono, adding Indonesia would offer 14,000 tons.
Indonesian Coordinating Minister Hatta Rajasa said that Indonesia planned to boost rice stockpile by over 2 million tons.
Soaring rice and chilli prices has led inflation to 21-month high in January with 7.02 percent year on year. Inflation eased to 6.65 last month.
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