Cheaper cooking oil to help the poor

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 09/20/2007 2:58 PM  |  Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Poor residents in Menteng, Central Jakarta, flocked to the Proklamasi Monument on Wednesday morning to buy discounted cooking oil, as prices for the essential commodity continue to rise.

A total of five tons of cooking oil selling at Rp 7,000 (around 75 U.S. cents) per liter -- Rp 2,000 lower than the market price -- disappeared in less than an hour.

The discount sale was carried out by cooking oil producer PT Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food, which said it had provided the cut-price oil to help families struggling with rising prices.

Working with the city administration, the company had earlier distributed coupons to 6,000 local households eligible for the cheap oil.

Similar cooking oil sales were earlier carried out in Johar Baru, Tanah Abang, and Kemayoran districts, all in Central Jakarta.

Sinar Mas CEO Franky O. Widjaja said his company would continue to provide cheap cooking oil in Jakarta to help ease the burden on poor households.

He said his company and other cooking oil manufacturers would do their utmost to return the domestic cooking oil price to ""normal"" levels.

Central Jakarta Mayor Muhayat, who opened the cooking oil sale, said he appreciated the initiative to help poor residents.

He said that although Menteng was known as an affluent district, the fact that thousands of people had shown up at Proklamasi Monument showed there were still many poor families in the area in need of help.

Many of those living in Menteng's slums could afford around only Rp 20,000 a day to feed five family members, Muhayat said.

Yanti, 42, who was among those queuing to buy the cooking oil, said her husband gave her Rp 20,000 a day to buy food to feed their three children plus one nephew staying with them.

""Even Rp 20,000 is barely enough to get anything for six people. Just imagine, I need a quarter liter of cooking oil a day, half a kilogram of rice, vegetables and spices for the main dish.""

""I hope the cooking oil price can be reduced because the current price is killing me. Last year, the highest price of cooking oil was around Rp 6,000 (per liter),"" she said.

The cooking oil price has been at a high point from early in the year due to massive global demand for crude palm oil (CPO), especially from China and India.

The price of cooking oil, which is derived from CPO, has increased from Rp 6,500 to Rp 9,000 per liter in Jakarta, and as high as Rp 10,000 outside Java.

To get the price back to normal, the government has enlisted the support of palm oil and cooking oil producers to conduct so-called ""market operations"" involving the sale of discounted cooking oil.

Such efforts have been unsuccessful so far, however, with many forced to boil, rather than fry, their food.

Yanti said the discount cooking oil on offer Wednesday did little to help her daily budget,

Another resident, Ahmad, 56, shared Yanti's complaint, saying he had to spend money on public transport to reach the monument.

""On top of the money I spent on the cooking oil, I had to pay Rp 10,000 to a bajaj driver to get here and go home."" (12)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.