Palembang Residents Still Have Difficulty Getting Cooking Oil IDR 14,000 Per Liter

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Residents of Palembang City, South Sumatra, on Tuesday, still had difficulty obtaining cooking oil in traditional and modern markets since the Highest Retail Price (HET) was set.

One resident, Wita in Palembang, said that cooking oil has been difficult to obtain in the market for the past month and has the potential to run out quickly, with prices reaching Rp. 16,000-Rp. 18,500 per kilogram/liter, or above the HET provision of Rp. 14,000 per liter.

To overcome this problem, it is hoped that the government will evaluate the policy of selling cooking oil with HET because it is still difficult for people to get cooking oil at that price.

"It is better for the price of cooking oil to be released according to the market mechanism with strict supervision from the government so that it is not sold at a price that is beyond the reasonable limit," he said, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, March 1.

In order to control the price of cooking oil and maintain the supply to the community as needed, he asked that the operation of the cooking oil market carried out by the Palembang City Government in the last few weeks could be carried out more intensively.

With market operations and oil trading according to market mechanisms, it is hoped that cooking oil can be easily obtained like so far.

Previously, the Head of the Palembang Trade Service, Reymon Lauri, said that his party had prepared 35,000 liters of cooking oil for low-cost market operations in the next few days.

The cooking oil is distributed through market operations in stages until early March 2022 to a number of traditional markets and residential areas.

Several locations for cooking oil market operations include the Sekip Ujung market, Maskarebet, Tangga Buntung, KM5, Padang Tuesday and the 3-4 Ulu market as well as the residential area of the 24 Ilir flats in Palembang.

The cooking oil is sold to the public at a relatively cheap price of Rp. 27,000 for a two-liter package or Rp. 13,500 per liter.

"This market operation is expected to overcome the recent shortage of cooking oil in the market and control the price increase of one of the people's basic needs," said the Head of the Trade Office.