High Price But Rare Stock, Traders In Banyumas Traditional Market, Central Java Reluctant To Sell Cooking Oil

A trader at Sweet Market, Purwokerto (Photo: DOK ANTARA)

BANYUMAS - The price of cooking oil in traditional markets, Banyumas Regency, Central Java is still high. For example, bulk cooking oil costs Rp. 19,000/liter.

Head of the Trade Division of the Banyumas Regency Industry and Trade Office (Dinperindag) Retno Wulandari said that for simple packaged cooking oil, it was empty.

"From our observation, the price of bulk cooking oil at the people's market or traditional markets is currently still above Rp. 19,000 per liter. There is only a small amount of premium packaged cooking oil," he said in Purwokerto, Banyumas Regency, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, February 16.

Meanwhile, in supermarkets or modern stores, the supply of packaged cooking oil is still there every day, even though its availability is only at certain hours. When displayed on supermarket shelves, the cooking oil immediately sold out.

Asked about the possibility of facilitation for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to be able to buy cooking oil according to their needs, he admitted that until now there has been no cooking oil program for SMEs.

"Indeed, MSME players who only get 2 liters of cooking oil cannot meet their needs, but we also don't have a program for MSMEs. We also can't hold a cheap market or operate a cooking oil market because we don't have a budget," said Retno.

One of the traders at Pasar Manis, Purwokerto, Icuk admitted that he had not sold bulk cooking oil for a long time because the price continued to soar. "If I'm not mistaken, the last time I sold bulk cooking oil was when the price was still Rp. 18,000 per liter," he said.

Meanwhile, for packaged cooking oil, he admitted that it was still difficult to get a supply of simple packaged cooking oil, while premium packaged cooking oil could still be used even in very limited quantities.

Denis Priwanda, one of the 27 Tempe Chips SMEs in Gentawangi Village, Jatilawang District, Banyumas, admitted that he did not dare to use bulk cooking oil to fry tempeh chips because it would affect the taste.

"It's not only me, but other food SMEs that are produced by frying are also very rarely using bulk cooking oil because it will affect the taste," he said.

In addition, he said, the increase in cooking oil prices greatly affected the selling price of food MSME products such as tempe chips and so on.

Related to this, he hopes that there will be a special policy for MSME players to be able to get packaged cooking oil according to their needs.

"I usually need packaged cooking oil of at least 6 liters for 10 kilograms of dough. If I can only buy packaged cooking oil of a maximum of 2 liters, of course it will not be enough," he said.