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Bandung administration, business team up to maintain chicken prices ahead of Idul Fitri
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A worker checks on a broiler chicken farm in Gegesik district, Cirebon regency, West Java.
(kompas.com/Abdullah Fikri Ashri)
T
he Bandung administration and a local business will work together to ensure that retail prices for chicken will remain stable, especially ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday next month, acting mayor Muhamad Solihin says.
The retail prices of broiler chicken will reportedly be kept below Rp 40,000 (US$2.83) per kilogram.
“We will officially launch the collaboration next week,” Solihin told reporters at the Bandung City Hall on Tuesday.
The appointed private company will supply 300,000 live chickens, or 300 tons of chicken per day, to 32 traditional markets across the provincial capital. The retail price of the chicken will be set at Rp 33,000 per kg.
According to market operator PD Pasar, excluding modern supermarkets, daily demand of live chickens from traditional markets reaches 42,000.
“It should be more than enough,” PD Pasar director Ervan Maksum said.
The administration’s market intervention came after the city saw a surge in retail prices of chicken, which at one point reached Rp 42,000 per kg last weekend.
Ervan further said he suspected market manipulation was behind the recent surge in retail prices of chicken as local authorities received complaints from poultry vendors that they only received half of normal supplies.
“This [market intervention] offers an alternative to vendors,” he said, adding that the policy is set to be extended to seven days after the Idul Fitri holiday to ensure an adequate supply and stable prices of chicken in the market. Among the most popular traditional Idul Fitri dishes, especially on Java island, is opor ayam (chicken stewed in coconut milk).
He also suggested that the local administration might impose a similar market intervention on beef if necessary. (swd)
