Anticipating The Scarcity Of Minyakita Ahead Of Eid, DMSI Suggests The Government Do This

JAKARTA - Acting Chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Council (DMSI) Sahat Sinaga suggested that the government limit the sale of subsidized cooking oil alias Minyakita ahead of Eid.

According to Sahat, so far the targets for subsidized cooking oil have not been correct, so there is concern that there will be a shortage of oil like the previous year.

"Don't sell Minyakita or the form of Minyakita through modern markets, because they are not right on target. Just sell all of these Minyakita through traditional markets, let them buy it," Sahat said at a press conference "Challenges and Development of the Downstream Palm Oil Industry 2023" in Jakarta, Tuesday, February 7th.

Thus, the Minister of Trade's proposal regarding buying Minyakita using an ID Card does not need to be carried out. Because, according to Sahat, it will only add new problems.

"So, you don't need to use an ID card, as suggested by Mr. Zulhas (Minister of Trade), it's too complicated," he said.

It is known, the price of cooking oil in the country is currently climbing beyond the highest retail price (HET) set by the government.

For bulk cooking oil and simple packaged cooking oil, the government sets a HET of IDR 14,000 per liter or IDR 15,500 per kg.

Thus, at this time there is also a shortage of Minyakita in the markets.

Related to this, the Minister of Trade also instructed that every purchase of Minyakita be limited, if you buy 5 kg you must show your KTP.

However, Sahat assessed that this measure was not effectively implemented in Indonesia.

"If you have money and go to market outlets (modern retail), don't buy Minyakita," he said.

Sahat also suggested that the sale of Minyakita would no longer be carried out by the private sector, but instead be given to Perum Bulog.

"The distribution of bulk cooking oil and Minyakita is respectfully requested by the government to be controlled, namely the name Bulog, it doesn't need to be 100 percent of them, only 60-70 percent of them are in control, it's definitely safe," he explained.

"Don't let this Eid, (Indonesia) experience difficulties like before. Indeed, this situation is not easy, but that does not mean it cannot be resolved," he concluded.