Vietnam’s rice exporter Tan Long Group has affirmed it has nothing to do with Indonesia’s National Logistics Agency (Bulog), one of the two Indonesian agencies accused of buying rice from Vietnam at inflated prices and thus causing over US$180 million in losses.

Truong Sy Ba, chairman of Hanoi-based Tan Long Group, an agribusiness player in Vietnam, released the affirmation in talking with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday, following a corruption allegation made by the People’s Democracy Study (SDR), an Indonesian civil organization, against Bulog and Indonesia’s National Food Agency.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia, the SDR has recently complained to Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) against the two above entities for buying rice from Vietnam at inflated prices.

The corruption allegation was brought forward after Tan Long Group allegedly sold 100,000 metric tons of rice to Indonesia in May at US$538 per metric ton, $82 higher than market rates, according to the SDR.

Based on such a price difference, the SDR claimed that the state’s losses could likely reach about $180.4 million since Indonesia imported 2.2 million metric tons of rice – from various sources – in January-May.

Meanwhile, Ba told Tuoi Tre that Tan Long has since last year won only one bidding package for exporting 30,000 metric tons of rice for $620 per metric ton to Indonesia through South Korea’s Posco.

He asserted that the group has not directly won any bidding package from Bulog to export rice to Indonesia.

“I don't know what Bulog is. I've seen information going crazy about the alleged corruption over the past few days, but I have nothing to do with Bulog,” Ba emphasized.

Refuting this allegation, Bulog has claimed “to have been the victim of 'marking up' allegations on rice imports from Vietnam,” which was reported to the KPK, Indonesian magazine Tempo reported early this week. 

Mokhamad Suyamto, director of supply chains and public services at Bulog, confirmed that Tan Long has had no contract with the agency to export rice to Indonesia this year.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Indonesia commented that the corruption allegation is likely to seriously affect Indonesia's rice purchasing from Vietnam until the end of 2024, or at least until the case has been investigated and clarified.

According to statistics from Vietnam’s General Department of Customs, Indonesia is the second-largest importer of Vietnamese rice in the first five months of this year, accounting for nearly 17 percent of both the total volume and turnover of the whole country. 

Over the first six months of the year, Vietnam exported 4.68 million metric tons of rice, earning $2.98 billion, an increase of 10.4 percent in volume and 32 percent in value compared to the same period last year, setting a new record for Vietnamese rice exports, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The average export price of rice in the period is estimated at $636 per metric ton, up 19.5 percent year on year, the ministry reported.

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