The delivery of the cooking oil is also a gift from the food state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for Indonesia's Independence Day (commemorated on August 17).
Jakarta (ANTARA) - State-owned food holding ID FOOD is working on optimizing the utilization of sea toll infrastructure to distribute MinyaKita, affordably priced cooking oil in simple packaging, to the eastern regions of Indonesia to reduce logistic costs.

"We are optimizing the sea toll facility to meet the people's demand for simple packaged cooking oil for Eastern Indonesia (regions), such as Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara Province), Timika (Papua Province), and Merauke (Papua Province)," president director of the holding, Frans Marganda Tambunan, stated here on Thursday.

Tambunan's side has sent 40 containers of MinyaKita, weighing about 669.6 tons, or 744 thousand liters, from Tanjung Priok Port, North Jakarta.

Some 21 containers carrying 351 tons, or 390,600 liters, of the product were delivered to Kupang City, while Timika City and Merauke District received six containers carrying 100.5 tons, or 111,600 liters, and 13 containers with 217.7 tons, or 241,800 liters, respectively.

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"Delivery of the cooking oil is also a gift from the food state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for Indonesia's Independence Day (commemorated on August 17). We are committed to (realizing) equitable distribution of food to meet the needs of the community," the president director remarked.

He noted that the eastern region of Indonesia still experiences a deficit regarding the commodity.

Earlier, on May 10, 2022, ID FOOD had also distributed 300 tons of cooking oil and 800 tons of sugar using the sea toll facility to Kupang City.

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Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said that his side provided the sea toll services to make the shipping costs relatively economical and affordable, so that the price of cooking oil set by the government, at Rp14 thousand per liter, could be maintained.

The minister assessed that establishment of the sea toll road was able to facilitate the distribution of goods, which is expected to make the commodity prices equitable throughout Indonesia.


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According to the Trade Ministry’s data, currently, the national average price of bulk and simple packaged cooking oil has declined to Rp14 thousand per liter.

In fact, the average price in the Java and Bali regions has reached Rp13 thousand per liter. Meanwhile, the average price in the regions of Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi has decreased to Rp14 thousand per liter, and in several areas, it has even reached Rp13,500 per liter.

However, the average price of commodities in East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and Papua regions is still at around Rp17 thousand to Rp19 thousand per liter.

Hence, Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan emphasized that intervention steps by various stakeholders, including the Transportation Ministry, SOEs, and the private sector, were deemed necessary to stabilize the price.

"Hopefully, the sea toll cooperation would enable (the people in) Papua, Maluku, and East Nusa Tenggara to enjoy the price of simple packaged cooking oil at Rp14 thousand," he added.

The sea toll facility is a logistics transportation concept launched by the Indonesian government to address the high disparity in commodity prices between the western and eastern regions by operating various container and feeder ships to deliver the goods to hub ports throughout Indonesia.

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Translator: Sugiharto P , Uyu Liman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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