Check Pasar Tugu Pal Depok, Jokowi Finds Rising Rice Prices

President Joko Widodo (Photo: Capture Youtube Screen @SecretariatPresident)

DEPOK - President Joko Widodo reviewed the availability and price of food commodities at Pasar Pal Tugu Depok, West Java during his working visit today. As a result, the prices of a number of foods such as onions, eggs, and chicken are fairly stable. "I was present at the Depok Tugu Market to check the last few weeks (before Lebaran) what the prices of basic commodities were like. I saw good things, good onions, eggs going down, then garlic stable, then chickens also at Rp. 32,000-Rp. 35,000 too, stable," Jokowi said in a YouTube broadcast by the Presidential Secretariat, Thursday, April 13. However, Jokowi found one food that experienced an increase in prices, namely rice. Meanwhile, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta instructed the existence of market operations at Pasar Pal Tugu. "Those who haven't gone down are rice. Earlier I had ordered Bulog to drop into this market so that it would be like a market operation. If the supply doesn't have a problem," said Jokowi. Meanwhile, Jokowi admitted that he did not receive special complaints from traders or buyers regarding the increase in food prices ahead of Eid Al-Fitr 1444 Hijriah. "(The merchant complaints) are not there, nothing. Prices are stable, those who shop are the same way. There are no complaints," continued the former mayor of Solo. The results of the monitoring of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in March 2023 noted that the national general trade price index (IHPB) was 115.21 or year on year (yoy) up 5.44 percent compared to the same month the previous year. "The highest increase occurred in the mining and excavation sector, which was 11.02 percent. The agricultural sector increased by 4.03 percent and the industrial sector increased by 5.70 percent to March 2022," said BPS Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics Pudji Ismartini at a press conference. News Release Statistics, Monday, April 3. Meanwhile, economic observer from the Islamic University of North Sumatra (UISU) Gunawan Benjamin predicts rice prices will not fall in the near future. The reason is because of the government's policy of increasing the purchase price of the government (HPP) for water-graded rice to a maximum of 14 percent, broken grains to a maximum of 20 percent, menir to a maximum of two percent in Perum Bulog's warehouse, to a price of Rp9,950 per kilogram on March 15, 2023.

Then, there is also the potential for dryness due to the El Nino phenomenon in mid-2023 which can make rice fields fail to harvest. "Even so, there is good news that the government will open the import tap. It can prevent rice prices from increasing. Moreover, public consumption has recently continued to decline," said Gunawan as well.