Agriculture minister reluctant to comment on new rice import permit Workers unload Vietnamese rice at Tenau Port in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Feb. 13. Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman is reluctant to comment on the fresh issuance of an import permit for 500,000 tons of rice, saying that the importation of rice is not his authority. Ask me when Indonesia will export rice again not about rice imports when he was asked to comment on the rice import permit issued by the Trade Ministry to the State Logistics Agency. The rice is expected to be imported before July, in addition to the 500,000 tons that had been imported earlier this year.