"If (the cooking oil) has been packaged properly, it will be sold at Rp14 thousand (US$0.93). If (the cooking oil) is already in packages, the market will expand, as it can now be supplied to supermarkets," Hasan noted after visiting Klender Market, East Jakarta, on Wednesday, to monitor cooking oil stocks sold at Rp14 thousand per liter.
To date, bulk cooking oil sold at Rp14-15 thousand can be purchased only at 13,968 government-appointed stores, whose numbers will increase, according to the minister.
The production of simple-packaged cooking oil that will be sold at Rp14 thousand is ongoing, he remarked, adding that the cooking oil will be distributed to supermarkets and minimarkets to allow more residents to purchase it at an affordable price.
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"Minimarkets and stores alike will refuse to sell bulk cooking oil, but if the product has been packaged, then they will sell the product. There will be more stores (that sell affordable cooking oil). Please pray that God Willing, in two weeks, the affordable Rp14 thousand cooking oil will be available anywhere, and we will no longer have this issue, as its availability is assured," Hasan remarked.
The minister noted that the government will prepare 300 thousand tons of cooking oil per month, exceeding the monthly demand for cooking oil among residents, for the program to provide the commodity at Rp14 thousand.
The government is currently awaiting marketing authorization from the National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) before distributing the cooking oil product in simple packaging, he stated.
The affordable cooking oil product sold at Rp14 thousand will be branded as "Minyak Kita" (Our cooking oil), Hasan added.
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Translator: Aditya Ramadhan, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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