Crowded Beef Traders Want To Strike, IKAPPI: No Effort, Just Reduce Sales Volume

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Market Traders Association (IKAPPI) has appealed to meat traders in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) not to strike out to sell due to soaring beef prices on the market so that meat traders are quiet buyers.

The appeal is stated in the circular letter (SE) of the DPP IKAPPI Number 91 / SE / IKAPPI / I / 2021 issued on January 19, 2021 signed by the Chairman of IKAPPI Abdullah Mansuri.

"We ask meat traders throughout Jabodetabek not to strike out to sell as a sign of protest, but (sufficiently) to reduce sales volume," Abdullah wrote in the circular, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, January 20.

The circular, wrote Abdullah, is an appeal for meat traders to address the meat issue with careful consideration. IKAPPI knows the current difficulties of meat traders and also knows the people's purchasing power which continues to decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Therefore we ask not to strike, because it must also be considered that losing customers is the most dominant consideration of the effect of the trading strike for the next three days," he wrote.

Abdullah asked the meat traders to rethink the strike for three days starting January 20, 2021. Home-based stalls (such as warteg, Padang food stalls, Sundanese food stalls, home-made nasi uduk stalls and so on) still have to get supplies from meat traders at the market throughout Jabodetabek amidst their continued weakening condition.

Considering that market conditions are increasingly quiet and purchasing power is decreasing, it is feared that if all meat traders strike it will have an effect on the absence of other traders. "Therefore we ask that the strike action for the next three days be rethought," wrote Abdullah.

IKAPPI knows that these conditions are quite difficult. "But we hope that comrades survive and trade properly even though the volume is reduced, which is the current solution," wrote Abdulah.

Previously, it was rumored that beef traders in Jabodetabek would go on strike for three days starting today, Wednesday, January 20. This news refers to the circular letter of the Indonesian Meat Traders Association (APDI) number 08 / A / DPD-APDI / I / 2021.

This plan is triggered by the high price of beef in the market since the beginning of 2021. Over the past few days, the price of pure beef has reached IDR 120 thousand per kilogram (kg), whereas it is usually around IDR 110 thousand to IDR 114 thousand per kg.

Meanwhile, the price of hamstring beef has reached Rp. 126,000 per kg over the last few days, even though the price is usually more than Rp. 100,000 per kg.