The Struggle To Buy Bulk Cooking Oil For Small Traders In Solo

Photo via Antara

JAKARTA - A number of small traders in the city of Solo, Central Java, asked for an easier redemption system for buying bulk cooking oil implemented by wholesalers.

Based on observations in Solo, Wednesday, March 23, as quoted from Antara, long lines were seen at the Nugroho Store in the Legi Market area.

One of Sayekti's consumers said that the purchase conditions that must be met are that consumers are required to buy other goods.

"The important thing is to buy something else, for example, if I can buy 17 kg of cooking oil, it must be the same as two sacks of wheat which weighs 50 kg," he said.

In addition to being packaged with wheat flour, consumers can choose other items such as granulated sugar with a weight of 50 kg. In fact, the price of goods that must be redeemed is actually more expensive than the price of cooking oil itself.

"So the capital must be large, I will do this by preparing a minimum of IDR 1.5 million, that can buy three packages," said the small trader from Sawahan Village, Ngemplak District, Solo.

He said the bulk cooking oil he bought from wholesalers was IDR 15.400/kg, while the flour was IDR 185.000/sack and sugar was IDR 650.000/sack.

Small traders from Kadipolo Risbani Market, who were also waiting in line for bulk cooking oil, complained about the difficulty of selling the other items that had to be redeemed.

"Sugar and wheat flour don't sell every day. The goods pile up," he said.

In this regard, he hopes that the bulk cooking oil purchasing system will return to normal. "This is subsidized, the price is more expensive, that's okay, but you don't need to pay like this because the money has stagnate (stopped)," he said.

When this was confirmed, the owner of the Nugroho Store, Diana, was reluctant to give much explanation. "Yes, (small) traders sell not only oil, but they must also sell other things as well," he said.

Previously, specifically for bulk cooking oil, the government set the highest retail price (HET), which was IDR 14.000/liter or IDR 15.500/kg.