Surabaya (ANTARA) - East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa on Friday assured that the market price of cooking oil was in line with the single-price policy promulgated by the government.
She made the statement after reviewing the implementation of cooking oil market operation at the Regional Revenue Agency (Bapenda) Office on Panglima Sudirman Street, Gresik district, East Java province.
"Since January 14, 2022, the central government has made a policy of cooking oil single-price of Rp14 thousand. And as of February 1, the government implemented a new policy to set the highest retail price for cooking oil at Rp14 thousand. We have checked to ensure the implementation of the policy on the field," Parawansa informed.
She said she had visited several areas to monitor cooking oil prices after the government set the single-price and ceiling price for cooking oil. Based on observations made during the visits, many modern retailers have implemented the new price, she added.
"However, I do not deny that there are several markets selling cooking oil above the predetermined price," she said.
According to Parawansa, the high price of cooking oil was caused by constraints in its availability in the market, although based on existing calculations, the supply of cooking oil in East Java should still be in surplus.
"Cooking oil production in East Java is 62 thousand tons per month, while the needs of our people are 59 thousand. That means we should still have a surplus," she noted.
Therefore, the scarcity of cooking oil could not be due to a supply problem because cooking oil stock in East Java is sufficient enough, the governor said.
"There must be a missing link in the distribution chain. We will try to unravel this by pushing regulations to keep prices in line with the provisions, especially since the central government has budgeted a subsidy of Rp3 trillion," she added.
During the market operation in Gresik, the East Java provincial government provided one thousand packages of affordable cooking oil. Each package contained two liters of oil priced at Rp12,500 per liter. (*)
