Chief of the BPS, Suryamin, said here on Monday that some of the commodities that had dropped in price were rice, chicken meat, eggs and tomatoes.
"These four commodities have contributed to the deflation of prices, making the entire food group contribute to a deflation of minus 0.33 percent," he said.
Suryamin added that the price of rice dropped to contribute to deflation in March, as a sufficient supply in 44 cities was measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
"March to April is the grand harvest period, so supply is sufficient," he said.
The largest drop in the price of rice was found in Serang in the Banten province, West Java, falling by nine percent, as well as Sukabumi in West Java and Maratam, West Nusa Tenggara, by eight percent.
The price of broiler chicken meat also dropped to contribute to deflation, as the supply in 56 CPI cities remained adequate.
"Based on data in the first week of March, the largest drop was found in Samarinda by 13 percent and in Tarakan by 12 percent," he said.
In nine CPI cities the price of broiler chicken meat rose, but not significantly enough to lead to inflation.
Suryamin added that broiler eggs also contributed to deflation, because their price was down in 50 CPI cities.
The largest decline occurred in Kediri and Pare-Pare by nine percent and in Pekanbaru, Cirebon, Tarakan, Palu and Mamuju by eight percent.
Also, the price of tomatoes fell in 44 CPI cities, with the steepest drop recorded in Mataram at 47 percent and in Manokwari by 40 percent.
Suryamin said among the commodities that contributed to inflation in March was chili, whose price rose the highest in 46 CPI cities.
"The price of chili rose quite high because of a lack of supply. The largest increase was recorded in Kediri, East Java, by 86 percent and Gorontalo by 84 percent," he said.
Further, he said the average increase in the price of chili this month was 10 percent to 75 percent.
Suryamin said the price of red chili also rose to contribute to inflation in 57 CPI cities.
"The highest was recorded in Denpasar at 68 percent and Kediri by 66 percent," he said.
He said the average rise of the red chili price was 10 percent to 50 percent.
Other commodities that recorded an increase in price were clove and cigarettes, due to increasing taxes.
"The increase was recorded in 33 CPI cities with the highest in Tangerang, Banten province, by six percent and in Padang, West Sumatra, by five percent," he said.
Suryamin said the inflation in March was categorized as low, following deflation over the past two years. However, the price of processed food, beverages, cigarettes and tobacco contributed 0.46 percent to inflation in March 2012.
"March 2010 recorded a deflation of minus 0.14 percent and minus 0.32 percent in 2011," he said.
Thus, inflation during the calendar period of January to March 2012 has been recorded at 0.88 percent, while the year-on-year inflation is at 3.97 percent.
Inflation has been recorded in 34 of 66 CPI cities, and deflation in 32 cities.
The highest inflation rate was recorded in Ambon in the eastern province of Maluku with 1.33 percent and in Manado, North Sulawesi at 1.12 percent, while the lowest deflation was recorded in Malang, East Java, at 0.01 percent.
Suryamin said the city that contributed the lowest rate of deflation was Jayapura in Papua with a minus 1.44 percent.
(SYS/KR-BSR/O001)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
