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Red tape constrains AC supply as Jakarta heat drives demand
Vendors are struggling to meet increased demand for air conditioners and blame a recently issued regulation for hampering imports.
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Vendors in Jakarta are struggling to meet increased demand for air conditioners and blame a recently issued regulation for hampering imports.
(Shutterstock/caimacanul)
V
endors are struggling to meet elevated demand for air conditioners (ACs) at a time of unusual heat and say a new regulation complicates imports.
Indonesia has experienced elevated temperatures in recent months. According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), April was 0.8 degrees Celsius warmer than the average temperature measured across the country for the same month from 1991 to 2020. This follows a trend of higher average monthly figures since the start of the year.
Greater Jakarta accounted for 30.8 percent of AC systems installed nationwide in 2017, Statistics Indonesia data show.
According to the secretary-general of the Association of Cooling and Refrigeration Companies in Indonesia (Perprindo), Andy Arif Widjaja, delays in the issuance of technical approval (Pertek), a requirement for imports imposed by the Industry Ministry, is hampering restocking efforts, causing a headache for AC vendors.
AC demand has increased by 5 to 10 percent compared with the same period last year, which Andy attributes to the hot weather.
"The supply is somewhat affected by the recent implementation of Industry Ministry Regulation No. 6/2024," Andy told The Jakarta Post, noting that it often took longer than the prescribed five working days for members of the association to receive the Pertek.
Furthermore, the depreciation of the rupiah and the cost increase for some commodities, notably copper as an important raw material in the production of cooling products, had contributed to the escalation in the cost of raw materials, hampering the domestic production of AC systems.
