SOLOK - The price of cooking oil in Solok City, West Sumatra, has started to drop to its normal price. However, this has been accompanied by shortages at the retailer and consumer levels.
This scarcity has even been experienced since the last few weeks. This was acknowledged by the food vendors at Pasar Raya Solok.
"Although the price of cooking oil has started to fall in the market, there has been a shortage of stock that has been going on for the past few weeks," said Rina, a food trader at Pasar Raya Solok, as quoted by Antara, Thursday, March 3.
Rina revealed that the price of bulk cooking oil has now dropped to Rp. 16,000 per kg from the previous Rp. 19,000 per kilogram. Meanwhile, the price of premium cooking oil fell from IDR 42 thousand per two liters or IDR 21 thousand per liter to IDR 32 thousand per two liters or IDR 16 thousand per liter.
The problem of price is resolved, another problem arises. The stock of cooking oil in the market seems to have disappeared. Retailers and consumers are now having a hard time finding this one staple.
"We as traders also find it difficult to buy cooking oil in wholesalers and the quantity is limited. Usually we can buy 200 boxes, now we can only buy 20 boxes at most," he said.
Rina hopes that the government can provide a solution to the scarcity of cooking oil because according to her, cooking oil is a basic need that cannot be separated from households.
According to the Head of Food Availability and Distribution of Solok City, Efrizal Hasdi through the Head of Food Availability Section Riko Andria Budi, the scarcity of cooking oil is due to the subsidized cooking oil price.
"People are very enthusiastic about buying cooking oil so that in a matter of hours it is sold out," he said.
While on the other hand, the subsidized stock is not much and is issued periodically. If there are many immediately, it is feared that there will be people who will take advantage of this opportunity.
In addition, for now, the availability of cooking oil at Pasar Raya Solok is reduced by up to 60 percent, including bulk and packaged oil.
"Based on the news circulating because there are people who buy in large quantities but are kept for sale when the subsidy has run out," he said.
In addition, after being followed up by wholesalers, the scarcity of cooking oil occurred because the amount of cooking oil entering the market was much reduced.
He also appealed to the public to be wiser in consuming cooking oil and only use it as needed.
"Even foods that don't use cooking oil are certainly healthier. We also ask that you don't have to hoard cooking oil, let alone take advantage of this incident, such as buying at subsidized prices and selling at non-subsidized prices," he said.
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