DPR PKS Faction: The Polemic Of 'Tempe Is Expensive' Because China Is Buying Soybeans From The US

JAKARTA - The government needs to truly empower various policy measures and optimize the various available facilities and infrastructure to achieve self-sufficiency in soybeans, as happened in 1992.

"In 1992 Indonesia had self-sufficiency in soybeans, at that time the production of Indonesian soybean farmers reached 1.8 million tons per year. This is an opportunity for the government to optimize domestic soybeans, while improving farmers' welfare," said Member of Commission VI of the Indonesian Parliament Nevi Zuairina quoted from Antara, Monday 4 January.

According to Nevi Zuairina, the easing of the trade war between the United States (US) and China is thought to be one of the factors causing the increase in soybean commodity prices.

This, he continued, was because Indonesia, which most of its soybeans depend on supplies from the US, was affected when China bought US soybeans.

"The momentum for good US-China trade relations which resulted in an increase in soybean prices should be utilized by the government to increase domestic soybean production," Nevi said.

For that, he said, the government is expected to improve the domestic soybean trade system.

In addition, according to the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician, active collaboration between ministries and related institutions is needed as well as involving industry players and MSMEs in order to create soybean price stability.

"The soaring price of soybeans can also be troubling for small traders. Because later fried sellers will not be able to sell tofu and fried tempeh, so their income will decrease," he said.

He reminded that the tofu and tempe industry players were very burdened by the increase in soybean prices which reached almost 50 percent at the beginning of 2021.

BPS noted that processed soy products, namely tofu and tempeh, experienced inflation in December 2020, respectively 0.06 and 0.05 percent, following the increase in soybean prices on the global market.

Based on data from the Association of Indonesian Tofu and Tempe Cooperatives (Gakoptindo), the current price of soybeans has jumped to IDR 9,300 per kilogram, from three months ago in the range of IDR 6,000-7,000 per kilogram.