Efforts By The Ministry Of Trade To Play Oil Prices Ahead Of Ramadan

Oil (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government continues to maintain the price stability of various basic necessities in the market ahead of Ramadan 1444 Hijri. One of them is the price of cooking oil.

The Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan, and Deputy Minister of Trade, Jerry Sambuaga, have recently shared the task of continuing to monitor the movement of commodity prices in a number of markets in the country.

A number of markets visited by the Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan, including Kreneng Market, Denpasar, Bali, and Addrejo Market, Surabaya, East Java, while Deputy Minister of Trade, Jerry Sambuaga, visited Cik Puan Market, Pekanbaru City.

From the results of visits, prices for real necessities are stable, while cooking oil prices, especially oil, tend to reduce their supply in the market, so prices increase slightly.

At Pekanbaru City Cik Puan Market, for example, oil-branded oil oil oil is already scarce from the circulation in Pekanbaru. The depletion of Oil in the market is a synergy program of the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag), Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) with cooking oil business actors. This people's cooking oil program was launched in May 2022.

The selling price of Oil in accordance with the highest Retail Price (HET) is set at IDR 14,000 per liter or equivalent to IDR 15,500 per kg, the target is for low-income people.

Purchases by cooking oil business actors use digital application technology (QRIS) to ensure that the sale of cooking oil is right on target.

"We have to make sure that the price of our oil sold according to HET reaches traders, which is Rp. 14,000/liter or Rp. 15,500 per kg. However, the problem with the mother of a trader is that when they take it from an agent it is already expensive," said Deputy Minister of Trade, Jerry Sambuaga, when visiting Cik Puan Market, Pekanbaru City, quoting between.

Watch Our Oil

Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan emphasized that the circulation and sale of people's cooking oil, both bulk and packaged oil, will receive extra attention. The Directorate General of Consumer Protection and Trade Order (PKTN) of the Ministry of Trade will carry out intensive supervision of the production and sale of cooking oil for the people of Oil, especially in the online market.

Data from the Ministry of Trade states that from the supervision carried out for sales through electronic commerce (e-commerce) and social media platforms, there are as many as 6,678 links containing content on the sale of Oil and Forestry that have been lowered due to violating the rules.

In addition, during this supervision, the Ministry of Trade also carried out security of 937 cartons or 11,246 liters of several business actors who sold through social media such as Facebook and Instagram.

Supervision is carried out based on Law Number 8 of 1999 concerning Consumer Protection and Law Number 7 of 2014 concerning Trade as amended lastly by Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation Chapter III Paragraph 8 in the Trade Sector.

Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan asked business actors not to take advantage of the situation when people have difficulty getting people's cooking oil. People's cooking oil in the form of packaging with the brand "Our Oil" cannot be sold beyond the Highest Retail Price (HET) of Rp. 14,000 per liter and without any restrictions on sales.

The Trade Minister also reminded that business actors who trade packaged cooking oil brands "Our Oil" through social media at prices exceeding HET can be subject to administrative sanctions in the form of written warnings up to the revocation of business licensing in the trade sector in accordance with the provisions of Article 80 of Government Regulation Number 80 of 2019 and Article 23 of the Minister of Trade Number 49 of 2022.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry Sambuaga when visiting Pekanbaru City Cik Puan Market emphasized that if there is a shortage of "Our Oil", it is proven that there are indications of hoarding, his party will coordinate with local governments, law enforcement officers, if anyone hoards and they must be dealt with.

The Deputy Minister of Trade has communicated with Pekanbaru Mayor officials and Forkompimda ranks to map the availability and price of these basic necessities from downstream to upstream. HET applies to traders of Rp. 14,000 per liter or Rp. 15,500 per kg.

Use of QRIS

During a visit to Pasar 50 Pekanbaru City, Deputy Minister of Trade Jerry appreciated the implementation of the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) by traders. QRIS is the standard QR Code payment for the Indonesian payment system developed by Bank Indonesia and the Indonesian Payment System Association (ASPI).

"It is extraordinary, the implementation of this digital payment and thanks BI, BRI, and BRK and others who have participated in digitizing payments," he said.

The Deputy Minister of Trade on that occasion tested QRIS to buy groceries by paying digitally. The Ministry of Trade will continue to encourage efficiency in terms of payment and program the digitization of 1,000 markets per year.

Meanwhile, to make it easier to monitor the availability and price of basic goods, Pekanbaru Mayor, Muflihun, will activate the function of PT BUMD SPM as a shelter for basic goods from all distributors.

"The PT BUMD SPM building already exists, it's just a matter of activating the function of the building, immediately being used as a shelter for basic goods because so far various basic food transport vehicles have implemented different prices. The existence of this container will make it easier for the Pekanbaru City Government to monitor," said Muflihun.