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Bad weather blamed for garlic price hike in Gorontalo, Riau

The retail price of garlic in traditional markets nationwide has skyrocketed this week, due primarily to harvest failures as a result of bad weather

Syamsul Huda M Suhari and Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post)
Gorontalo/Pekanbaru
Thu, March 14, 2013

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Bad weather blamed for garlic price hike in Gorontalo, Riau

T

he retail price of garlic in traditional markets nationwide has skyrocketed this week, due primarily to harvest failures as a result of bad weather.

In Gorontalo, garlic reached on Wednesday a record high of Rp 70,000 (US$7) per kilogram, up from between Rp 40,000 and Rp 55,000 per kg just the day before. Similar price increases have also affected other commodities, including onions and chilies.

“Suppliers have said the price hike is due to low harvests because of the rainy season,” Dessy Meyer, 33, a trader at the Sentral Market, Gorontalo, said on Wednesday.

She said that most of the garlic sold at the city’s largest traditional market was imported from China, Malaysia and Thailand via Surabaya in East Java and Manado in North Sulawesi.

Yassin, 30, a trader at Liluwo Market in Gorontalo, said that so far, supply had been smooth but the volume was smaller than usual.

The head of trade at the Gorontalo Cooperatives, Industry and Trade Agency, Sofyan Pulo’o, said the price increase had mainly been caused by a lack of transportation and bad weather during the last few days.

Sofyan said the higher price of garlic, however, would not have a significant impact in the region because garlic was not consumed in large amounts in Gorontalo; unlike onions, tomatoes and chilies, which were more popular.

In Pekanbaru, Riau province, garlic has been hit by similar price increases of more 100 percent. Garlic that was previously priced at Rp 15,000 to Rp 20,000 per kg was being sold on Wednesday for up to Rp 50,000 per kg.

One shopper at Pekanbaru’s Cik Puan Market, Ita Indriwati, said she was reducing the amount of garlic she bought because of the expense. “I used to buy at least one quarter of a kilogram; now I’m buying just a few cloves,” she said.

Head of Pekanbaru’s Trade and Industry Agency, El Syabrina, said the price hike was due to harvest failure in garlic production centers thanks to adverse weather.

Head of the agency’s metrology and trading section, Mega Miko, added that rumors about a central government plan to stop importing the commodity might also have contributed to the increase in price.

In Bantul, Yogyakarta, onion farmers protested the fact that they were not benefitting from the hike in the price of onions due to their poor economic situation.

“We just heard that the price of onions increased first to Rp 25,000 per kg, then to over Rp 30,000 per kg, and later to Rp 40,000 per kg,” farmer Yuranto, 41, said.

He said it was mostly middlemen and speculators who profited from the situation as they could hoard commodities once they heard about possible price increases.

Bantul’s Agriculture, Husbandry and Forestry Agency head, Edy Suharyanta, predicted that prices would return to normal within one to two months of the next round of harvesting.

Slamet Susanto contributed to this story from Bantul

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