Indonesia: Buyers and Sellers Blame Govt for Skyrocketing Price of Garlic and Shallots

March 14, 2013 Leave a comment

Buyers and Sellers Blame Govt for Skyrocketing Price of Garlic and Shallots
Jakarta Globe | March 13, 2013

The cost of shallots and garlic has skyrocketed in the past week, causing complaints from buyers and sellers who blame government policy for the increased prices.

Detik.com reported on Wednesday the price of garlic has hit Rp 75,000 per kilogram in some places — more than five times the usual price of Rp 13,000 per kilogram— while the current price of shallots has hit Rp 48,000 per kilogram from the usual Rp 12,000 per kilogram.

In an effort to bring the price down, the Trade Ministry on Thursday announced it would import 29,136 tons of garlic from China and India. Srie Agustina, director general of domestic trade at the Trade Ministry, told Investor Daily over the weekend that the imported garlic would arrive in Jakarta in the next two weeks.

A housewife named Agnes said she’s going to avoid buying shallots and garlic until the price returns to normal.

“Shallot and garlic prices are so high. I usually buy them for Rp 14,000 per kilogram but now it’s Rp 40,000 per kilogram. It’s better if we don’t consume it for a while,” she told beritasatu.com at the Kramat Jati Market on Tuesday.Mama Geri, a food vendor at an office building on Jl. Gatot Subroto, said she bought shallots for Rp 60,000 per kilogram and garlic for Rp 90,000 per kilogram at Rengas Market in South Jakarta. While the costs of her ingredients have gone up, she said she refused to increase the price of her food.

“I don’t want to increase the price for customers, so I just reduce [the amount of] onions in my cooking,” she said.

Muji, a seller at the Palmerah Market in Central Jakarta, said it was hard for her to earn even Rp 1,000 in profit per kilogram of shallots she sold. Muji said she usually sold up to 15 kilograms of shallots per day, but now she felt lucky if she could sell one kilogram.

“It is hard to sell with the current price,” she told Tribunnews.com on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Traditional Market Traders Association (APPSI) blamed the price hike on the government’s incapability in managing the agriculture sector, especially related to food imports.

Ngadiran, the secretary general of the association, said that the government imported onions during the harvest season, even though there were enough local suppliers. He said that local farmers couldn’t compete with the imports, so they were driven out of business.

“The government is incapable in managing food policy. They imported onions during the harvest season, which really messed up the prices. Now there are fewer onions farmers,” he told news portal Kontan.co.id on Tuesday.

The government, he said, decided to stop shallot and garlic imports after local farmers stopped producing, which caused a scarcity in the commodities and soaring prices.

“The ones benefiting from the current price hike are those who keep the commodities [onions] and the warehouse owners. They hold the commodities that caused the price hike,” he said.

The increased prices for shallots and garlic has extended beyond Jakarta to areas such as Ternate, Padang, Lampung, Makassar, Yogyakarta , Semarang, Gresik and Banjarmasin.

Filed under Macro Trends

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