‘How many more months should we suffer?’: Indonesians struggle with pricey cooking oil
As millions of Indonesians travelled to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, one common struggle was being discussed in most family gatherings: the price of cooking oil.
“I always host Eid al-Fitr celebrations for my big family. I cook everything for around 20 of us. But this year is the first time I had to ask them to chip in because everything is so expensive, especially the oil, and I really can’t handle it on my own,” Ellifa Kartini said.
Palm oil is the most widely used cooking oil in Indonesia. Like many people, Kartini uses it for her family and for her business. She has run a small catering firm from her home in Bekasi, West Java, for 25 years. She also produces and sells traditional cookies. But the rising cost of cooking oil has been extremely difficult for her business.
“Eid al-Fitr is that time of the year when I get the most orders and the biggest revenue. I could produce more than 25kg of fried cookies just for Eid al-Fitr. But this year I decided not to take any orders because the price is just too expensive. And if I raise my cookie price, I know my customers will not want to buy it,” she said.
Ellifa said she needs around six litres of cooking oil each week for her business. On normal days it costs around Rp 15,000 ($US1.04) per litre, but for the past few months the price has kept rising, up to Rp 30,000 per litre.
“Before it went up that much, it first disappeared from stores and markets. I have to queue up for hours just to get one litre. Sometimes I even have to go to another district to find it. But when it reached Rp 30,000 per litre I just gave up. The price just doesn’t make sense anymore,” she said.
Mohammad Faisal, Indonesia executive director at the Centre of Reform on Economics (CORE) said
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