Deputy Minister of Trade, Jerry Sambuaga, has said that he will ask distributors to sell bulk cooking oil at rates below the highest retail price (HET).
Sambuaga said he wanted distributors to sell bulk cooking oil at a price of Rp14 thousand per liter or Rp15,500 per kilogram.
Sambuaga and deputy chairman of Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR), Muhammad Sarmuji; secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Suhanto; and Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto reviewed food prices at Pasar Baru in Bogor on Tuesday.
“We want to make sure that all stakeholders understand the provision of selling bulk cooking oil under HET to avoid a big gap in price differences,” Sambuaga said.
He also informed that the price at which traders were buying bulk cooking oil from agents or depots in Pasar Baru, Bogor, ranged from Rp15,500 to Rp16 thousand per kilogram. This means there is a higher difference in the purchase price at the trader level of Rp500.
Therefore, traders are selling bulk cooking oil to buyers at Rp18 thousand per kilogram.
“For bulk oil, we also monitor it with Bogor Mayor and Commission VI DPR. It seems that there is a price difference. We will make sure in the future that the price for bulk cooking oil is Rp14 thousand per liter and Rp15,500 per kilogram,” he affirmed.
Sambuaga emphasized that he has coordinated with the Food Task Force as well as the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) and National Police (Polri) to take firm action against distributors found hoarding bulk cooking oil, which is currently being subsidized by the government through HET.
He reminded the public not to hesitate to report parties hoarding bulk cooking oil to the Trade Ministry.
“If anyone can report it to us, there will always be officers ready to guard it,” he said.
Source: Antara News