Trade Minister Zulhas Has Issued An Import Permit Of 300,000 Tons Onion

JAKARTA - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan said that the import of garlic had no problems.

In fact, he claimed to have issued import permits of 300,000 tons.

"Import garlic, no problem, it went smoothly. I have issued a permit of 300,000 tons, more than enough," he told reporters in Jakarta, Monday, April 1.

Regarding the price of garlic that is currently soaring, Zulhas, Zulkifli Hasan's nickname, said this was due to high demand or demand.

"So because there are many needs, there are many requests, that's the high price," he explained.

Meanwhile, Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi said that the current increase in the price of garlic is due to being influenced by prices at the international level. Given, garlic is a commodity that depends on imports.

"We depend on one garlic from outside (imports), if there are two (causes) outside dependence, the first is the price of the country origin (state of origin). The second is the currency rate (rupiah exchange rate)," he told reporters, in Jakarta, Monday, April 1.

"Today, if we have a currency rate of Rp. 15,800 (per US dollar). Don't compare it with last year's price, which currency is Rp. 13,000 or Rp. 14,000. We have to understand everything to the public because imported goods will definitely be like that," he continued.

Quoting the Bakanas Price Panel, as of today the national average price of garlic commodities is IDR 41,680 per kilogram (kg).

This figure is up 0.07 percent or Rp30 silver compared to last week.

It is recorded that the highest price of garlic will be in Central Papua Province with IDR 69,020 per kg. Meanwhile, the lowest price was recorded at IDR 36,450 per kg in Yogyakarta DI Province.