Discussing Rare And Expensive Cooking Oil With DPR, Trade Minister Lutfi Says There Are Mafia In Medan, Surabaya And Jakarta

Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi. (Photo: Doc. VOI)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Trade (Mendag) Muhammad Lutfi said that the supply of cooking oil is sufficient for the people in each province. However, he smells that there are speculators playing in the scarcity of supply and the high price of cooking oil in the country.

This has made the price of cooking oil at the consumer level volatile.

Based on BPS data as of February 2022, the price of packaged oil from the original Rp. 20,279 per liter to Rp. 16,965 per liter, decreased by 18.9 percent. Meanwhile, bulk oil decreased from 17,726 per liter to Rp. 15,583 per liter or 10.1 percent.

However, in fact these prices do not apply in the market.

Lutfi said the government had distributed 551 million liters from 720 million liters throughout Indonesia. According to him, it should have met the needs of the people in each province.

"What happened is, our speculation is that there are people who shouldn't accept the proceeds from this oil. For example, entering an industrial area where 1.8 million tons per month should be sent to the public or being smuggled out of the country. This is a mafia that we must eradicate. together," he said in a Working Meeting with Commission VI of the DPR RI, Thursday, March 17.

Lutfi revealed that there are three areas suspected of hoarding cooking oil, including Medan, North Sumatra (Sumut); Surabaya, East Java (East Java); DKI Jakarta. For Sumatra alone, as of February 14 to March 16, cooking oil supply was 60,423,417 liters.

"I went without migraines, there are 3 areas similar to this, namely Surabaya, East Java with 91 million distributions, Jakarta 85 million with 11 million people and North Sumatra," he said.

"According to the BPS 2021, the people of North Sumatra amount to 15.18 million people, if this is divided it is equivalent to 4 liters per person in one month," he continued.

Lutfi said that in North Sumatra, to be precise in Medan, 25 million of the cooking oil was distributed, even though the population was 2.5 million. Based on the simulation per month, each resident gets 10 liters of cooking oil.

Furthermore, Lutfi said that the same thing in these three cities is the dominance of industry and ports.

"These three cities are dominated by industry, ports. So if this is a port from the people's port, one barge can be 1,000 tons or 1 million liters, multiplied by Rp. 7,000 or Rp. 8,000, the money can reach Rp. 8-9 billion. The Ministry of Trade cannot fight this deviation. So our speculation is that there are people who get a chance in adversity," he said.