Cooking Oil Prices Soar, Indef Economists Are Concerned: Large Palm Oil Producers, But There Is No Guarantee That People Can Enjoy

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Deputy Director of Indef Eko Listiyanto suspects that the current problems of cooking oil in Indonesia range from soaring prices to shortages due to the game. For this reason, he asked the government to supervise the distribution of cooking oil and take action if there are criminal findings.

"There is a game, so the price (rises) like this. The government must dismantle what this game is like," he said in a discussion themed 'Peeling Completely Safe Cooking Oil for the People', organized by the Jakarta Journalist Center, quoted Friday, March 25.

Seeing this situation, Eko felt concerned. This is because Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil in the world.

"Can be produced in Indonesia is not a guarantee people enjoy," he said.

As is known, the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) made price adjustments for bulk cooking oil. The Ministry of Trade issues the Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 11 of 2022 concerning the Determination of the Highest Retail Price of Cooking Oil.

Through this regulation, the Ministry of Trade revoked the HET provision for packaged cooking oil, and regulated the certainty of the price of bulk cooking oil on the market. The government no longer regulates the price of packaged cooking oil and allows it to move according to market mechanisms.

Meanwhile, for bulk cooking oil, the HET is set at IDR 4,000 per liter or equivalent to IDR 15,500 per kilogram (Kg).

Eko assessed that the latest policy was not effective. This is because he is worried that bulk cooking oil will become scarce in the market, as happened in packaged cooking oil.

"It turns out that there are many trial and error policies. HET, but can't be monitored. Migraines are bulky, but they don't know the product is available," he said.

So, to address the polemic about cooking oil, he asked the government to categorize the situation as an emergency.

"If you want to be effective, treat cooking oil like an emergency situation," he said.