Prices of Necessities Begin Going Down

Jepara (Antara) - Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said the prices of a number of basic necessities had begun to go down in different scales. "For example, the prices of live cows and cayenne at wholesales markets in Jakarta and its surrounding cities of Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabotabek) have been decreasing in different levels," the minister said after giving a general lecture at Jepara's Islamic University of Nahdatul Ulama here on Friday. He said that the decline in the prices of the commodities was among other things caused by enough supplies in the market. The minister said that the government had decided to meet the need for and increase supplies of beef, red onion and cayenne pepper thorough the adoption of policy of importing them because stocks at home were scarce. Slaughter cows, the minister said, will be imported as many as possible to meet the need for beef in the local market. At present, the price of a live cow has begun to decrease to Rp33,000 per kg from the previous price at between Rp37,000 and Rp38,000 per kg. With the entry into the country of stocks, the minister expressed hope that prices would be drive down further. Besides that, he said, the slaughter of local cow would be accelerated. There are now about 109,000 local cows which are ready to be slaughtered, the minister added. About 40 percent of the total supplies have been slaughtered. "The slaughter of the cattle will be carried out in stages until the post-fasting holiday of Lebaran so that price stability will be achieved," Gita said. (*)