Jakarta, Jan 6 (Antara) - The prices of chili, one of the most important commodities in the country, have continued to skyrocket in the past few weeks.
Prices are on the rise in at least 76 cities, contributing 0.47 percent to the country's inflation rate, which stood at 3.02 percent.
Chili is being sold at varying increased prices in areas, such as West Papua and East Kalimantan, where the commodity's price has reached Rp200,000 per kilogram (kg), which is more than four folds that in Aceh Province, at Rp35,000 per kg.
The current per kg price of chili in Aceh has returned back to normal from Rp110,000 last week.
Chili is being sold at a steep price, reaching Rp200,000 per kg, in West Papua, notably in Waisai City of Raja Ampat District.
In Nunukan, North Kalimantan, the price per kg of chili is Rp150,000, while in Central Java, particularly in Banyumas District, it is sold at Rp120,000 per kg.
In the meantime, the price of chili in Lebak, Banten Province, is relative lower, at Rp70,000 per kg, while in Jakarta and Bandung (West Java), it is about Rp50,000 per kg and Rp120,000 per kg respectively. These prices are fluctuating in different parts of the country and have mostly not yet returned to normal.
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution stated that he will coordinate with the agriculture minister to speed up the distribution of chili in an effort to bring the prices back to normal.
"I will coordinate with the agriculture minister. The price hike is extraordinarily high if it reaches that level (Rp200,000 per kg)," Darmin noted on Wednesday (January 4) in response to the soaring chili prices.
The coordinating minister believed that the price hike is attributed to distribution problems and the wet dry weather season. The government is making efforts to provide chili stocks, especially in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, so that the price would be brought under control in the coming days.
The efforts will include distributing stocks from other regions where the prices are still not high.
Head of the Internal Trade Section of the Trade Service of East Kalimantan Muhammad Yunus remarked that the price hike had been observed for several days and had peaked on January 3-4.
Yunus claimed that the prices had been rising due to harvest failures caused by floods in certain regions, which usually supply adequate stocks. Hence, the prices are soaring.
However, he has forecast that the price hike will not last long. East Kalimantan has frequently experienced such a price fluctuation.
"I am sure there will be no stock hoarding. Moreover, chili has a shelf life of only about five days, after which it starts rotting. Hence, speculators cannot be blamed for hoarding, leading to the scarcity of stocks. The causes are the weather factor and distribution problems following harvest failure in chili-producing regions," Yunus stated.
According to Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman, the chili price hikes were caused by the rainy season in 2016, during which it could not be harvested.
"The plantation yield is adequate, but it could not yet be harvested during the rainy season," Minister Amran noted at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday (January 2). Chili harvested during the rainy season will rot faster.
The minister claimed that domestic chili production is still adequate, hence there was no need to import the commodity. Amran claimed that the high price of chili would not have a major impact on the inflation rate.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, chili is one of the food commodities that has contributed 0.74 percent to the inflation rate, as the price of red chili in 76 cities in the country experienced an increase.
Waisai in Raja Ampat District, West Papua, is one of the 76 affected cities. At the Waisai traditional market, the price of chili also reached Rp200,000 per kg similar to that in Samarinda City in East Kalimantan.
A 45-year-old trader Nulia at the traditional market stated that the price of Cayenne pepper on Friday (January 6) had reached Rp200,000 per kg, rising from about Rp60,000-Rp140,000 per kg several days earlier.
She said the local farmers were not yet able to meet the daily demand for chili in Waisai. Traders have to source the commodity from other regions, such as Makassar in South Sulawesi.
In order to overcome the scarcity of chili stocks and high prices, Minister Sulaiman has called on the people to plant chili in their house yards.
Ahmad Heryawan, the governor of West Java, where the prices of chili also jumped to Rp100,000-Rp120,000 per kg, has supported the minister's call, suggesting consumers to plant chili in their house premises.
"I think the movement to plant chili in house premises can be a solution to the price hike," the governor added.***3***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE/H-YH
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 06-01-2017 17:20: |
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