"The president has instructed to secure the availability of all these food commodities. It must be monitored in terms of quantity, price, and quality," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto stated here on Thursday.
As of early April, Hartarto affirmed that rice stocks were still adequate, and farmers will enter the harvest period in April and peak harvesting season in June.
The government also observed that the supply of other food commodities, such as corn, onion, red chili, chili pepper, chicken, eggs, and edible oil, is adequate.
The price of garlic is still skyrocketing, but the government has approved imports that are expected to arrive in April to meet the domestic demand.
The government has also conducted market operation to stabilize the price of white sugar, with some 20 thousand tons supplied from Dumai, 33 thousand tons from Lampung, and 250 thousand tons from the refining industry.
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"For the food and beverage industry, 250 thousand tons of sugar (from the refining industry) were already distributed to Banten, Jabodetabek (Greater Jakarta), North Sumatra, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Makassar, East Kalimantan, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, and East Java, as of March 31, 2020," Airlangga remarked.
Until April 1, the price of medium rice had reached Rp12 thousand per kg on an average, Rp12,750 per kg for premium rice, Rp18 thousand per kg for white sugar, Rp117,700 per kg for meat, Rp43,100 per kg for chili pepper, Rp32,800 per kg for red chili, Rp 41,250 per kg for onion, and Rp45,200 per kg for garlic.
Meanwhile, the bulk edible oil price touched Rp12,250 per liter, packed edible oil at Rp14,700 per kg, chicken at Rp31,050 per kg, and chicken eggs at Rp26,100 per kg.
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Translator: Satyagraha, Sri Haryati
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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