Cooking Oil Prices Are Still Expensive, Minister Bahlil: There Are Still Many Unscrupulous Entrepreneurs

Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia also responded to the issue of the price of cooking oil which is still expensive in the market.

Bahlil assesses this because there are still many unscrupulous businessmen who keep prices from falling.

In response to this, Bahlil explained, the government has summoned entrepreneurs to lower the price of cooking oil.

One of them is by implementing the domestic market obligation (DMO).

"The DMO is to ensure the availability of raw material supplies for domestic industries so that prices are affordable, but what happened? There are still businessmen whose behavior is still like that, not yet converted," said Bahlil quoted Tuesday, July 12.

Furthermore, Bahlil explained, the characteristic of entrepreneurs is to seek maximum profit.

However, Bahlil considered that entrepreneurs should not play with the basic needs of the community.

Therefore, he invites entrepreneurs to help the government meet the needs of the community. In this case it is cooking oil.

"The hope is that in the future, come on for the people's problems, let's not play games. Please play around with matters that do not come into direct contact with the people," he said.

Bahlil ensured that the government had experience in controlling rogue businessmen who used various methods to get big profits from the cooking oil and palm oil industries.

"This is what Pak Mahfud (Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs) must control. Not all entrepreneurs are good. To be honest, there are still one or two entrepreneurs that make us dizzy, to be honest," he said.

Based on data from the national survey of Indonesian Political Indicators, the price of cooking oil is still not in line with the highest retail price (HET) set by the government, which is Rp. 14,000 per liter.

Where about 70 percent of respondents said that the price of cooking oil is still insufficient or not affordable at all.

For bulk cooking oil, only 9.6 percent of users claimed the price was in accordance with HET.

Meanwhile, 36.2 percent of users buy bulk cooking oil per liter at a price of Rp. 15,000 to Rp. 19,000.

There are even 16.8 percent who use bulk cooking oil at a price of Rp. 20,000 to Rp. 24,000 more.

As for the price of packaged cooking oil, 33.4 percent of users found the price was still Rp. 20,000 to Rp. 25,000 per liter.

Meanwhile, 38.7 percent admitted it was in the range of IDR 25,000 to 30,000 per liter.

Then, 5 percent admitted that the price was still Rp. 30,000 to Rp. 35,000 per liter.