JAKARTA - Small and medium industries (IKM) in the food sector are in need of support from the supply of raw materials to continue operating. This is because the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has a huge impact on business actors, including in Indonesia.
"The data we received, namely the supply of food IKM raw materials is difficult to obtain and the price is currently increasing," said the Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises (IKMA) of the Ministry of Industry, Gati Wibawaningsih IKMA in a statement received by VOI, quoted on Monday, April 13.
As for some of the soaring raw material prices, including the price of soybeans from IDR 6,700 to IDR 8,500, where soybeans are currently still easy to find on the island of Java, but outside Java, such as Sulawesi, soybeans are starting to be difficult to find.
Then sugar, the price increased from IDR 12,500 per kilogram (kg) to IDR 18,000 per kg, some even reached IDR 21,000 per kg in Palu City. "There is a limit on the purchase of granulated sugar to a maximum of 3 kg. If you want to buy large bulk packaging, you have to do it at a distributor and in very large quantities," said Gati.
The price skyrocketing also occurred for refined sugar raw materials, from Rp. 9,000 to Rp. 11,000, then the price of fruit which increased by about 20 percent, and raw material for fresh milk rose from Rp. 6,500 per liter to up to Rp. 8,500 per liter.
In addition, the price of red ginger has also risen to more than 100 percent, from IDR 35,000 per kg to IDR 70,000 per kg, even reaching IDR 130,000 per kg in Palu City. For the price of garlic, the price increases, from IDR 35,000 per kg to IDR 55,000 per kg.
According to Gati, food IKM also experienced a decline in turnover of up to 50 percent, there were even IKM whose sales decreased by 90 percent. In the end, they put the existing stock on sale so that it wouldn't pile up in the warehouse and to get income.
"The export market also experienced obstacles, due to the implementation of quarantine or lockdown. For example, the export of Monita fried onions from Kuningan Regency to Saudi Arabia," he said.
For this reason, IKM continues to carry out online sales in order to generate revenue for the company, while hoping that access to delivery of goods can continue even though regional quarantine will be imposed.
In facing these conditions, the food IKM expects a number of assistance from the government, including in the form of business capital assistance, delays in bank credit payments, stabilization of raw material prices to return to normal, and central government intervention to ensure the availability of raw materials to the regions, especially sugar. sand.
In addition, it is hoped that assistance from the government, both grants and loans, delay in payment of PDAM and PLN contributions, relief of BPJS payments due to layoffs of employees, postponement of tax payments, to subsidized shipping costs for online sales, especially for Eastern Indonesia, which has problems with high shipping costs. .
Gati added, IKM carried out rotating working hours, which means that there will be a reduction in employee income because wages are paid daily. "It seems that this condition applies to most food SMIs," concluded Gati.
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