This Is The Cause Of Scarcity And Soaring Prices Of Masks

Illustration. (Bagus Santosa / VOI)

JAKARTA - Fears of the transmission of the corona virus or COVID-19 have caused the demand for masks in the country to soar. From pharmacies to outlets, masks are running out of stock. Meanwhile, on the online trading platform, the price of masks has increased very high.

Minister of Trade Agus Suparmanto confirmed the question of the much sought-after mask. He made sure the stock of food and goods was sufficient. Therefore, people are asked not to panic buying. When panic buying occurs, it will trigger price instability.

"Panic buying can actually be detrimental to the community itself, it can lead to price instability due to price imbalances," said Agus, at a press conference, at Hotel Borobudur, Gambir, Jakarta, Tuesday, March 3.

However, in this situation, Agus did not prohibit mask producers from exporting. Even so, he appealed to prioritize domestic needs to be met.

"I emphasize that there is no export ban for mask products to the world market. However, the government urges domestic exporters to prioritize meeting the domestic demand for masks," he said.

Agus reminded that producers, distributors and sellers do not take advantage of the momentum of the increasing need for masks to inflate prices to buyers.

"The government urges mask producers not to raise (selling) prices out to the public. It was also shown by distributors and sellers," he said.

Not only for makser, hand sanitizer also experienced a surge in demand. He also emphasized that certain parties should not carry out practices that make these items rare and expensive.

"The demand for hand sanitizers is also high. The same appeal also applies to the sale of hand sanitizers, which are being needed by the community," he explained.

Likewise, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) asked the public not to panic shopping for masks in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. KPPU commissioner, Guntur Saragih, said that currently the high price of masks in the field was triggered by an increase in demand.

"There is a purchase that exceeds the scale of consumption. We hope that consumers will be smart because if they panic in transactions, it will make things even more difficult," said Guntur at the KPPU office, Tuesday, March 3.

According to the team's analysis in the field, according to Guntur, the KPPU did not find any allegations of business competition violations related to the soaring price of masks.

"We did not find any violations in the main business chain as stated in Law Number 5 of 1999 concerning the prohibition of monopolistic practices and unfair business competition, both cartels and all of its articles," he said.

From the results of research for about a month, Guntur said, the increase in the price of masks in the market for a while was purely due to high demand from the community. Meanwhile, this increase in demand was not matched by an increase in stock.

If there is a price game, Guntur estimates, this practice will occur at the level of small traders. That is, it does not occur in the main supply chain or in large scale entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, KPPU's Economic Director, M. Zulfirmansyah, said that the depletion of mask supplies in Indonesia was due to the reduced supply of goods from China. According to him, Indonesia was recorded as importing masks from the Bamboo Curtain country to meet domestic needs.

"So for the time being, the price increase was due to this phenomenon. For prices, we cannot say that this is normal or not because everyone has high needs and stocks are scarce," he said.

Firman emphasized that the KPPU will continue to open reporting access for the public should there be any allegations of fraud. If later there are business actors identified as having committed violations, the perpetrators will be subject to sanctions in accordance with the applicable regulations with a maximum material fine of IDR 25 billion.

People are asked to be pro active

Tokopedia's External Commnications Senior Lead, Ekhel Chandra Wijaya, said that Tokopedia is actively working to ensure that there are no unreasonable price increases, especially for health mask products.

"We also urge the public to report products at unreasonable prices, directly from the report feature on each product page," he said, through an official statement.

Not only Tokopedia, Shopee's online buying and selling platform will also take action against sellers from selling partners who increase the price of masks by an unreasonable amount. Shopee Public Relations Lead Aditya Maulana Noverdi said his team will continue to monitor.

"In the midst of the current situation, if there is a sale of mask products from sales partners who raise prices by an unreasonable amount, Shopee's internal team will immediately follow up," he said, through Shopee's official statement.

Shopee will also continue to communicate with sales partners to ensure the price of masks is sold at the right price. For this reason, he said, as an effort to increase awareness of the dangers of the COVID-19 virus, Shopee is conducting a self-protection campaign that can be accessed on the platform.

"Users can access various recommendations for health support products such as masks, vitamins, antiseptics and information about self-protection from the COVID-19 virus in the Shopee application," he said.