Rare Cooking Oil In The World's Largest Palm Oil Producer

Illustration of people buying cooking oil. (Photo: Antara Doc)

JAKARTA - Cooking oil is still scarce. Market operations selling cooking oil prices according to HET (Highest Retail Price) are always surrounded by women. This incident has been happening for several months. Since the beginning of the year.

Let alone the public, the Chair of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, and even officials from the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) are confused. Secretary of the Directorate General of Trade at the Ministry of Trade, IG Ketut Astawa, claims that if it is checked at the producer level, the current cooking oil production should meet domestic needs.

Last week in the media, Ketut revealed that there was a commitment from CPO producers which reached 351 million liters for 14 days, while the demand in the country for a month ranged from 279 to 300 million liters. Meanwhile, the export of CPO (Crude Palm Oil) is prohibited. That is logically more than enough.

Then, data from the Ministry of Agriculture in 2019, the total area of oil palm in Indonesia reached 16.38 million hectares spread over 26 provinces. The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) noted that crude palm oil production in 2021 reached 46.88 million tons. Indeed, down 0.31 percent from the 2020 achievement of 47.03 million tons. But still big enough. Even from the data obtained, since 2006, Indonesia has been ranked first and has become the king of the largest palm oil producer in the world. In 2019, palm oil production in Indonesia has penetrated 43.5 million tons, with an average annual growth of 3.61 percent.

Imagine! How ironic, cooking oil is scarce in the largest palm oil producing country in the world.

From the initial findings of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU), the scarcity of cooking oil is allegedly influenced by several factors, ranging from 'panic buying' to problems in distribution.

The head of the National Police's Food Task Force Inspector General Helmy Santika in the media admitted that the results of field observations were indeed a shortage of cooking oil. It happened because of the business actors. According to Helmy, the price of cooking oil rose due to the actions of business actors to hold stock. They took this action because they bought cooking oil at the old price, which was more expensive than the government's benchmark, which was only Rp. 14 thousand per liter.

The Minister of Trade, Muhammad Lutfi, said the same thing. According to the Trade Minister, there are two possible reasons why cooking oil is scarce in the market.

First, because of leaks for industries which are then sold at prices not according to government standards. Second, there is the smuggling of a number of individuals to be sold abroad at international prices.

A similar statement was made on Twitter by Member III of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Achsanul Qosasi. According to him, there are three points why cooking oil is scarce. First, the producer does not produce. Second, the raw materials for these goods are sold abroad (LN). And finally there are a number of rich people who hoard the goods.

What was conveyed made sense because based on the records of the Ministry of Trade, world CPO prices had penetrated the highest level in the second week of January 2022 at Rp12,736 per liter. The price is 49.36 percent higher than in January 2021. Even though the government has imposed it domestically, it must still be sold at the highest retail price (HET) set by the government.

In the midst of economic difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and ahead of Eid, the government must immediately take decisive steps. Tracing what is the exact cause of rare cooking oil. If there really is a 'panic buying', it's a bit hard to believe. The general question, how much people can stock? It is precisely what the Minister of Trade and Achsanul Qosasi expressed that was dangerous. Stockpiled for sale at international prices.

And if this is indeed the case, the perpetrators will be severely punished. Without discrimination. It would be very unsavory if state officials knew the cause or naughty perpetrators that resulted in scarce cooking oil but did nothing.

Poor people. Life has been tough. Gas prices rose plus cooking oil was scarce.