Economist: Indonesia Successfully Reduced Spike In Food Prices At The 2022 Eid Al-Fitr Moment

Minister of Trade, M Lutfi. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Trade)

JAKARTA - Economists assess that in general Indonesia has managed to contain the spike in basic food prices (bapok) during the Idul Fitri 2022 moment. This can be seen from the indicators of several bapok prices during this year's Eid moment which are still quite under control.

CORE Indonesia economist Yusuf Rendy Manilet said that this positive achievement could be seen from strategic food price indicators such as chicken eggs, onions, and sugar, which experienced a downward trend in prices.

"I think this can show that the availability of supply can offset the increasing demand or demand that occurs in the month of Ramadan and also during the Eid period," he told reporters in Jakarta, Saturday, May 7.

However, Rendy said, actually the stock management of the Bapok cannot be generalized as good at this moment. This is because specific food commodities such as cooking oil are still in a relatively high price trend.

"Especially for cooking oil in packaged or branded form. Cooking oil prices are still relatively high throughout Ramadan," he said.

Overall, he predicts, in the future the price of food commodities in the country will gradually decline. Along with the normalization of demand for basic commodities due to the end of the momentum of Ramadan.

Meanwhile, for cooking oil, the price dynamics will be determined how optimal the policy for managing the commodity trading system is. This includes the policy to ban the export of CPO and its derivative products which has been in effect since Thursday, April 28.

The thing to note in this policy is the non-compliance by certain individuals with the settings in this policy.

"This needs to be anticipated by intensifying the process of monitoring CPO upstream," he said.

With regard to the financial institutions, based on the Ministry of Trade's monitoring, as of May 5, 2022, the prices of various stocks have decreased slightly compared to the day before. For example, the price of ham beef, which fell 0.77 percent to Rp. 142,600/kg; and purebred chicken decreased 0.98 percent to Rp40,400/kg.

Then, large red chilies fell 4.24 percent to Rp40,400/kg; curly red chili fell 5.47 percent to Rp46,700/kg; and red cayenne pepper decreased 4.92 percent to Rp50,200/kg. Meanwhile, shallots also fell 1.83 percent to Rp37,500/kg; and honan garlic fell 0.98 percent to Rp30,400/kg.

Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi, previously also emphasized that his party is working hard to stabilize the price of bapok and its supply.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the Indonesian Market Traders Association (Ikappi) DPP Reynaldi Sarijowan reminded the government to immediately prepare and anticipate the availability of bapok supplies in the post-Idul Fitri market. At the same time focus on efforts to distribute evenly in the market.

Reynaldi himself was looking forward to the government's efforts, especially the Ministry of Trade, regarding the distribution of bapok supplies. He warned that mistakes in this effort would cause a spike and even a fairly high price disparity for food commodities in the future.

"Like packaged cooking oil, the price is Rp. 23,000/liter, (even though) bulk cooking oil is set by the government at Rp. 14,000/liter, this is far adrift. So, the availability of this (bapok) is important," explained Reynaldi.

On a different occasion, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) concluded that the increase in food prices in the period leading up to Eid was still at a reasonable level. KPPU also concludes that there are no signs that point to potential violations of business competition.

This conclusion is based on observations made on nine basic commodities, such as rice, cooking oil, chili, sugar, and so on.

KPPU Commissioner, Chandra Setiawan conveyed from the supervision, KPPU sees that the stock of food commodities is still sufficient with price fluctuations that are still in accordance with market mechanisms. stock according to the food balance prognosis," he said.