100 Days To Become Minister Of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan Klaim Successfully Stabilizing Prices Of Basic Materials

Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Zulkifli Hasan claims to have succeeded in stabilizing commodity prices starting in his 100 days as Minister of Trade. Among them, simple and bulk packaged cooking oil, broiler meat, beef, various chilies, shallots, garlic to sugar.

Stabilisasi harga dan bahan dasar waktu Saya hari pertama jadi Mendag itu minyak goreng tidak terkendali. Presiden memerintahkan dalam dua bulan harus Rp14,000, katanya dalam acara Kinerja 100 Hari Kerja Menteri Perjagangan dikutip Antara, Minggu 25 September.

Zulkifli said he was nervous, on the first day he became the Minister of Trade because the price of cooking oil was soaring so that President Joko Widodo immediately ordered that the price could go down to Rp. 14,000 per liter within two months.

The second day Zulkifli served as Minister of Trade finally found the cause of the high cooking oil price so he was determined to be able to lower it in just two weeks for Java and Bali, while in the third week for Kalimantan, Sumatra and Sulawesi.

In the end, the national average price of people's bulk cooking oil was at the level of Rp13,800 per liter which was below the Highest Retail Price (HET) on September 21, 2022, down 15.24 percent compared to June 15, 2022, which was Rp16,400 per liter.

"Now the average is Rp. 13,800. Papua and Maluku are already Rp. 14,000 but in urban areas, the mountain is different again because it carries it by plane," he said.

Zulkifli also distributes cooking oil throughout Indonesia, namely People's Cooking Oil or MINYARITA which has been available in 33 provinces including East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Papua and West Papua at prices according to HET.

Meanwhile, for chili prices, he said that currently the average is Rp. 50,000 to Rp. 60,000 per kilogram except in Padang, West Sumatra, which is still at Rp. 70,000, but in Bali, it has dropped to Rp. 40,000.

The beef is currently at a price of Rp. 150,000 per kilogram for those who are hung while the frozen one is Rp. 120,000 per kg while the price of onions is stable at Rp. 30,000 per kg.

For chicken eggs whose price is in the range of Rp. 27,000 to Rp. 28,000 per kg, Zulkifli said the price is stable because if it is below Rp. 27,000 it will harm farmers.

Kalau (roat) chicken itu harus paling murah Rp35,000 karena modalnya Rp24,000. Itu Rp35,000 saja di peternak chicken harga Rp15,500 dan untuk memberatkan modalnya sampai Rp24,000, rugi dia, tegasnya.

On the other hand, Zulkifli admits that the current price of rice has started to rise because the price of grain rose from Rp4,400 to Rp5,500 because in each region in Java such as East Java, Central Java and Banten made a grain.

However, he emphasized that the price of basic necessities as of September 21, 2022 had fallen significantly compared to June 15, 2022.

Food inflation until August 2022 is also quite well maintained with volatile food deflation in August 2022 of minus 2.90 percent or contributing to national deflation to minus 0.21 percent.

Inflation from January 2022 to August 2022 is 3.63 percent and the year to August 2022 inflation for August 2021 is 4.69 percent.