Minister Of Trade Budi Affirms Oil Is Not Subsidized Cooking Oil

Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso emphasized that simple packaged cooking oil with the government trademark, Oilita is not subsidized cooking oil.

KARAWANG - Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso emphasized that simple packaged cooking oil with a government trademark, Oilita is not subsidized cooking oil.

Furthermore, Budi said this needs to be straightened out because the community still thinks that Oilita is a subsidy product of the government.

"In the community, it often says subsidized oil. This is an omogenization of subsidized oil, yes, there is no term subsidized oil," he said at a press conference on the expos of the findings of the Oilita factory in Karawang, West Java, Thursday, March 13.

Budi explained that Oilita was obtained from the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) program carried out by cooking oil producers who wanted to export.

"This is the obligation of producers or business actors to export, so do DMO," he said.

The Oilita DMO scheme itself is regulated in the Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 18 of 2024. The previous DMO in the form of bulk or packaging, has now been changed to only in the form of Oilita.

Permendag Number 18 of 2024 concerning Packaged Palm Oil and People's Cooking Oil Governance, has been in effect since August 14, 2024.

In this regulation, every palm oil derivative product exporter who needs Export rights needs to distribute People's Cooking Oil (MGR) in the form of Oilita.

The export rights are used as a condition for issuing Export Approval. MGR can be recognized as an Export Right if it has been received at the First Distributor (D1) of a Food State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN).

But it can also be accepted at the Second Distributor (D2) or retailer if not through the Food SOE distributor as evidenced by reporting on the Bulk Cooking Oil Information System (SIMIRAH) digital technology system.