MSME Activists Complain About Scarcity Of Cooking Oil To KPPU Medan

SPECIAL PHOTO/The location of the finding of cooking oil in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra

MEDAN - The scarcity of cooking oil in the market has made MSME activists complain. They went to the office of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) in Medan to submit their complaints.

The chairman of the North Sumatra MSME Association, Ujia Sianturi, said that the impact of the scarcity of cooking oil had made MSME players stop producing their business.

This condition has been happening for a week. According to him, MSME members have difficulty getting cooking oil according to the HET (Highest Retail Price) from the government.

Apart from being scarce, they also complained about the restrictions on the purchase of cooking oil. Ujia explained, to be able to produce, MSME actors need cooking oil in large quantities.

"In modern wholesalers, purchases are limited to a maximum of 2 liters, whereas for frying banana chips, for example, we need 30 liters of cooking oil. If we buy at a price above HET, we don't know what price we want to sell anymore, because of the current condition of people's purchasing power. It's also decreasing," said Ujia, Tuesday, February 22.

He hopes that the KPPU will find a solution regarding this issue.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Medan KPPU I Regional Office, Ridho Pamungkas, said that his party had previously held discussions with various parties regarding the cooking oil issue.

From the results of the discussion, information was obtained about the scarcity of cooking oil due to obstacles in implementing the Minister of Trade's policies in the field.

Not only that, the discovery of a number of stocks in the warehouse of cooking oil producers also indicates a supply hold.

"On this matter, KPPU itself has not been able to conclude whether the detention of the supply is part of an indication of a cartel or there are other motives," he said.

He explained that the implementation of the DMO (Domestic Market Obligation) policy, which lasted for 3 weeks, was still not effective in overcoming the problem of cooking oil in the market. He hopes that the implementation of the DMO and DPO (Domestic Price Obligation) policies will soon be realized.

That way, producers who have received DMO supplies can immediately produce and distribute them to the public at HET prices.

"If conditions like this continue, it may be necessary to consider intensifying the cheap cooking oil program, either from the government or producers, which is more targeted. Especially for the lower middle class and the needs of MSMEs," he explained.

In addition to supervision at the regional level, currently the Central KPPU, he said, is also investigating the alleged high price of cooking oil cartels.

"Until now, KPPU has summoned 11 cooking oil producers, then has scheduled to summon business actors in the retail sector," he said.