JAKARTA - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, has asked the government to optimally monitor the Highest Retail Price (HET) for cooking oil in the market.
This request was conveyed by Puan after the announcement of the lifting of the ban on the export of cooking oil and its derivatives by President Joko Widodo. "We ask the government to strictly monitor the price of cooking oil in the market after the export of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and its derivatives is officially reopened today," said Puan in a statement. he wrote, Monday, May 23. According to Puan, strict supervision needs to be carried out considering that so far the price of cooking oil has not experienced a significant change. This is because the first female DPR chairperson still finds the price of bulk and packaged cooking oil which is far above the HET. “Every time I visit the region, I always take the time to check the prices of food commodities in the market. And until now, both traders and buyers are still complaining about the high price of cooking oil," he said. Puan explained that the ban on exports of palm oil and cooking oil was officially lifted as of May 23, 2022. The consideration is because the supply of cooking oil in the market has continued to increase.
However, said Puan, to this day the price of bulk cooking oil is still sold between Rp. 18 thousand to Rp. 19 thousand per kilogram. Meanwhile, 2 liter packaged cooking oil is still being sold as in previous days at around Rp45 thousand to Rp52 thousand per package.
The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture said that the uneven application of subsidies was one of the causes of the incompatibility of cooking oil prices with the HET provisions. Therefore, the central government must take strategic steps by cooperating with all local governments in conducting monitoring throughout the region.
"Including the distribution of cooking oil subsidies," said Puan again.
On the other hand, Puan reminded that the welfare of farmers and workers in the palm oil industry cannot be ignored. Thus, it is important to maintain food price stability.
"Moreover, cooking oil has indeed become one of the supporting food ingredients for micro, small and medium enterprises," said Puan.
Therefore, the chairman of the PDIP DPP encouraged the government to pay more attention when cooking oil prices began to gradually fall. Puan said, don't let the oil-purchase action happen again like some time ago.
"The stability of the supply of cooking oil in the market must be considered so that there is no wholesale action of cooking oil when the price drops," said Puan.
In addition, Puan assessed, anticipating the scarcity of cooking oil when the price drops also needs to be done early on. According to him, the government must carry out socialization and market operations continuously to prevent the act of buying or smuggling cooking oil which has an impact on the scarcity of cooking oil in the market.
“The scarcity of cooking oil can have an impact on price instability. Of course this is very detrimental to society, especially the little people. Don't let us turn the same wheel again," said Puan.
"Oil is rare because of the actions of a handful of parties who want to take more profit, which then has an impact on rising prices. In the end, this problem becomes a constant repetition," he added.
Puan also asked the government to conduct periodic evaluations of the policy of lifting the ban on exports of palm oil and cooking oil. According to him, the success of opening the export faucet for CPO and its derivatives must be tested.
"If it turns out that the cooking oil problem has not been resolved, we must reconsider the implementation of firm policies that have a positive impact on the stability of cooking oil prices," concluded Puan.
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