Prices rising despite sure supply

Panca Nugraha and Suherdjoko ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Mataram/Semarang   |  Thu, 09/25/2008 10:29 AM  |  The Archipelago

Staple food prices in several cities, including Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) and Semarang in Central Java, have been spiking despite repeated official assurances that supplies remain secure.

The price of beef at Madalika traditional market in Mataram, for example, has jumped to Rp 60,000 (US$6.38) per kilogram from Rp 46,000.

Many believe the increase is due to the increasing demand for the commodities ahead of Idul Fitri celebration, which is expected to begin on Oct. 1.

A vendor at the market, Fitri, 46, said she was forced to raise the price of the beef she sold because her supplier had also quoted her a higher price.

“I’m buying at Rp 56,000 a kilo,” Fitri said. She also said she was moving more, from her usual sales of 100 to 200 kg per day to up to 350 kg a day.

Fitri said the large quantity of beef shipped to Java in anticipation of increased demand ahead of the end-of-Ramadan celebrations might be behind the price hikes in local markets in NTB.

Separately, the head of the NTB provincial trade and industrial agency, Umar Usman, said increasing market demand was indeed behind the price hike. Still, he said, demand remained within normal range.

He said the province could send about 75,000 to 100,000 cows and buffalo to market each year. “But the local demand accounts for only about 47,000 of them, which is why we ship the surplus to other islands, including Java.”

Price hikes on staple foods have also been reported in Semarang, but newly elected Governor Bibit Waluyo confirmed his conviction that supplies were enough to meet demands of the local market and of an estimated 4.9 million holiday travelers who would be visiting Central Java during the Idul Fitri holidays.

“We can’t avoid price hikes because demand always spikes around this time,” said Bibit, adding he hoped vendors would not mark up the price on any commodity by more than five percent.

Separately in Makassar, Herman Agus Machmud from the State Logistics Agency’s South Sulawesi office said the rice stock at the agency was sufficient to meet provincial demand for the next 23 months.

“We currently have 230,000 tons of rice, while monthly demand is only 10,000 tons,” Herman said, adding more surplus was to come once farmers in several regencies — including Bulukumbu, Luwu, Palopo and Pinrang — brought in their harvests between October and December.

Herman said the province had so far shipped about 200,000 tons of rice to Bali, Jakarta, East Kalimantan, Maluku, Papua and Central and Southeast Sulawesi. Previously it had shipped the same quantity to Lampung and Gorontalo as well.

“We predict this year we’ll see a surplus of about 1.5 million tons of rice. It was 1.2 million tons last year,” he said.

Andi Hajramurni contributed to this report from Makassar.

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