Minister Of Trade Zulkifli Hasan Believes That The Cause Of The Shortage Of Cooking Oil Is Not The Work Of The Mafia

Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan believes that the scarcity and increase in cooking oil prices are not the work of the mafia, but rather a mistake in anticipating the spike in crude palm oil (CPO) prices in the world.

"No, I don't think it's about the mafia, not the mafia. There's a booming price increase. Friends who have CPO sell quickly, so we anticipate a delay," said Zulkifli Hasan, quoted from Antara, Monday, June 20.

According to him, the increase in world palm oil prices should be a blessing, but it will actually cause problems in the country. We have fixed it, there is a solution. It will be done in a month or two, God willing," he said. The man who is familiarly called Zulhas explained that one of the solutions he had prepared was to repair three distribution channels that would supply bulk cooking oil to more than 10,000 sales points. one price is Rp. 14,000 per liter for the community.

In addition, he continued, efforts to make simple packaging for bulk cooking oil in order to facilitate the distribution process throughout Indonesia.

For your information, the Attorney General's Office has named five people as suspects in the corruption case in granting export facilities for CPO and its derivative products, including cooking oil, which took place from January 2021 to March 2022.

The five suspects are Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana as the Director General of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Trade.

Then, four other people from the private sector namely Master Parulian Tumanggor as Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs of PT Pelita Agung Agrindustri/Permata Hijau Group Stanley MA.

Next, Picare Tagore Sitanggang as General Manager at PT Musim Mas General Affairs Section and founder and policy/analyst advisor to PT Independent Research & Advisodry Indonesia Lin Che Wei.

President Joko Widodo has also ordered law enforcement officials to continue taking action against alleged violations and irregularities in the distribution and production of cooking oil in force.