Moeldoko Ensures Government To Solve Cooking Oil Problem

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko chaired a coordination meeting (ANTARA/HO)

JAKARTA - Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko ensured that the government would resolve the issue of the availability and stability of cooking oil prices. This settlement is carried out thoroughly from upstream to downstream.

Initially, he explained that the cooking oil problem in the country was due to the increase in Crude Palm Oil (CPO) prices in the international market. With this condition, the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) then made efforts to resolve it by issuing the Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 6 of 2022.

Not only that, the government has also implemented a Domestic Market Bond (DMO) and Domestic Price Bond (DPO) policy. The hope is that the raw material problem can be solved.

"On the upstream side, this policy is expected to solve the problem of raw materials. Meanwhile, downstream, the determination of HET (Highest Retail Price) can reduce the burden on consumers," said Moeldoko in a written statement, Saturday, February 19.

Furthermore, the former TNI Commander said the policies issued by the Ministry of Trade had already started to have an impact. However, the availability and stability of cooking oil prices on the market is still not in line with the government's expectations.

Moeldoko said the price of cooking oil continued to fall even though the average was still above the HET. In addition, based on the observation of the Presidential Staff Office team, cooking oil is now available in modern and traditional markets.

"The scarcity in several locations will continue to be addressed. The Ministry of Trade and producers are still communicating to resolve the problem," he stressed.

For information, as of February 1, the government has set the HET for cooking oil with details, bulk cooking oil at Rp. 11,500 per liter, simple packaging at Rp. 13,500 per liter, and premium packaging at Rp. 14 thousand per liter.

The government also enforces a DMO policy for all cooking oil exporters of 20 percent of their respective export volumes, DPO of Rp 9,300 per kilogram for CPO, and Rp 10,300 per kilogram for olein (refined from CPO for cooking oil as a basic ingredient).