No Panic Buying, Cooking Oil Stock In East Kalimantan Is Safe For Up To Three Months

Illustration (Photo: Antara)

SAMARINDA - Cooking oil, both bulk and packaged, in East Kalimantan (Kaltim) is still able to meet the needs of the community for the next 3.1 months, so residents are asked not to take panic buying action.

"The need for cooking oil per month for around 3.85 million people in East Kalimantan reaches 638 tons," said the Head of the East Kalimantan Industry, Trade, Cooperatives (Perindagkop) and SMEs M Yadi Robyan Noor in Samarinda, as reported by Antara, Wednesday, April 6.

Meanwhile, the existing stock reaches 1,982 tons and has spread across 10 regencies/cities, so people are reminded not to panic when buying, in contrast to last month's cooking oil problem.

This amount of stock is spread in various locations such as those already circulating in the market, in storage warehouses, agents, and distributors with the amount of bulk cooking oil as much as 30 percent of the total stock which reached 1,982 tons.

For market prices, based on their monitoring conducted this Wednesday, bulk palm cooking oil costs IDR 15,833 per kg, while packaged cooking oil costs IDR 25,667 per liter on average.

Compared to yesterday, today's bulk cooking oil price is stable, while packaged cooking oil has increased in price, from the previous day at IDR 24,758 per liter.

He also said that the security of stock in East Kalimantan was not only for cooking oil, but also for all main food items and other basic needs, so he felt calm because the necessities for the community were available, including cooking oil where there were no longer queues.

"In general, the stock of our basic needs is safe. While the current price tends to rise, this is happening nationally as a domino effect of global dynamics," said Roby, his nickname.

In fact, he continued, historically before Ramadan, during Ramadan, and ahead of Eid al-Fitr, prices always increase, the impact of rising consumer demand between 20-40 percent.

"Incidentally, people's purchasing power is improving at this time, after the easing of community activities due to the sloping effect of the COVID-19 endemic, supported by an economy that grew 2-4 percent positively," said Roby.