Soybean Prices Rise, Warteg Business Actors: Can Tempe In Our Place As Thin As An ATM Card

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Warteg business actors who are members of Warteg Nusantara emphasize that they will not increase the selling price of side dishes made from tofu and tempeh. This is in response to the increase in the price of tofu and tempeh as a result of the increase in the price of soybeans as a raw material.

Head of Warteg Nusantara Coordinator Mukroni explained that to deal with the increase in tempe prices in the market, his party would reduce the size of tempe to be sold. This is done to avoid raising the price of side dishes.

"What we will do later is to reduce the size. Maybe the tempeh is thin, like the ATM (card) that we do to deal with the increase in tempe and tofu," he said when contacted by VOI, Friday, February 18.

Furthermore, Mukroni explained the decision not to increase prices because people's purchasing power has not recovered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this difficult time, he admitted that he did not have the heart to increase the selling price of food made from tofu and tempeh.

"Because of this pandemic condition, people's purchasing power has not recovered. If we raise prices, we don't have the heart. In people's conditions it is difficult, how come we raise them," he said.

Mukroni admits that the increase in the basic ingredients of tofu and tempeh is very burdensome for warteg business actors and the community. This is because the majority of business customers are those whose economy is middle to lower.

"Because tofu and tempeh are indispensable consumer goods, where the condition of people's purchasing power (during the pandemic) tightens their belts, they cannot afford meat and chicken dishes, they replace them with tofu and tempeh. Therefore, if tofu increases this will burden the community," he said.

As previously reported, the increase in the price of imported soybeans as the main raw material for making tofu and tempeh, triggered a strike on the production and trade of tofu and tempeh craftsmen in the island of Java. If the price of soybeans does not decrease, the craftsmen will increase the selling price of tofu and tempeh by 10 to 20 percent in the market.

Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Tofu and Tempe Producers Cooperatives (Gakoptindo) Aip Syarifuddin apologized to the people who love tofu and tempeh if prices in the market experienced an increase. He emphasized that the price had to increase because the price of raw materials had increased.

Aip said that currently the average price of soybeans reaches Rp. 11 to Rp. 11,500 per kilogram (Kg) on the island of Java. Meanwhile, the price reaches IDR 12,000 per kg in Aceh, Kalimantan or Sulawesi.

"We, from tofu and tempeh craftsmen, apologize to the people who love tofu and tempeh, because we are forced, compelled and compelled to do this. So we apologize," he said when contacted by VOI, Friday, February 18.

Aip gave an example of an increase in the price of tofu and tempeh by 10 to 20 percent. Previously, the price of tempeh for a piece of palm or 500 grams was around Rp. 5 thousand to Rp. 6 thousand in the market. Then there will be an increase of 10 or 20 percent. This means that from Rp. 5 thousand, it rose to Rp. 6 thousand.