Trade Minister: Prices Of Basic Needs During Ramadan And Ahead Of Eid Al-Fitr Tend To Be Relatively Stable

Minister of Trade Budi Santoso. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube DPR RI)

Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso said prices for basic necessities ahead of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr 2025 tended to be stable.

This was revealed by Budi during a Working Meeting (Raker) with Commission VI of the DPR at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, March 3.

"Towards Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, national prices for basic necessities as of February 28, 2025 tend to be relatively stable. Although some have increased slightly," he said.

In the working meeting, Budi did not deny that there were a number of basic necessities that experienced price increases. One of the commodities whose price skyrocketed was red cayenne pepper.

"Only the red cayenne pepper commodity has increased by 23.23 percent month to month to Rp81,700 per kilogram," said Budi.

He claims the government remains wary of commodities that have historically experienced inflation during National Religious Holidays (HBKN) ahead of Eid Al-Fitr 2025.

"The government remains wary of commodities that have historically experienced inflation during religious holidays (Fast-Lebaran) such as rice, beef, chicken meat, chicken eggs and garlic," he explained.

Regarding the skyrocketing price of red cayenne pepper, Budi said, his party had communicated with commodity production centers such as in Magelang (Central Java), East Java and Sulawesi.

Then, he continued, the main cause was the reduced supply of red chili pepper due to the rainy season this month.

"Regarding (the high price) of red chilies, we have also communicated with chili production centers such as in Magelang, East Java and also Sulawesi. Because in principle it is a reduced supply due to a lot of rain this month," he said.

In addition, Budi explained, based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) there was a deflation in January 2025 of 0.76 percent month to month (mtm) and inflation of 0.76 percent on an annual basis or year on year (yoy).

Meanwhile, volatile food experienced inflation of 2.95 percent on a mtm basis and inflation of 3.07 percent yoy.

"Some of the basic needs that contribute to inflation month to month are 0.01 percent rice, 0.02 percent chicken meat, 0.3 percent fresh fish, 0.03 percent cooking oil, 0.17 percent cayenne pepper and 0.19 percent high in red chilies," he concluded.