A total of 5,400 Liters of Oil Stock will be Distributed to Bandung

In order to maintain the stability of cooking oil supply, the Bandung City Government will conduct market operations every week to traditional markets and retail stores.

Based on data from the Department of Trade and Industry (Disdagin) of Bandung City, as of Friday, February 18, 2022 yesterday, the stock of cooking oil in the City of Bandung reached 250 thousand liters.

Head of the Bandung City Department of Trade and Industry, Elly Wasliah explained, on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, the Ministry of Trade again allocated a stock of 5,400 liters of cooking oil to be distributed to two stores in Bandung.

"As of today, we are increasing the stock allocation for premium packaging of cooking oil to the Prama Babakan Sari Store by 3,000 liters and Griya Antapani 2,400 liters," said Elly.

In addition, cooking oil stocks will also be distributed to traditional markets considering that there are still many old stocks sold by traders in the market.

As a result, the price of cooking oil in traditional markets is higher than the price set by the government.

"This Monday, we have distributed 23,000 liters of bulk cooking oil to four traditional markets, namely Simple Market, Kosambi, Cicadas, and Kiaracondong," he said.

"The target is that we will carry out market operations every week so that there are no more traders selling old cooking oil stocks at high prices," he added.

According to Elly, the further impact of the sale of old cooking oil stocks at high prices has made consumers switch to retail stores. So that the stock of cooking oil in retail stores was running low.

"We admit that there is a depletion of stock in small retail stores. In Borma Cijerah alone, 7,200 liters were used up within two hours. We are still monitoring whether these buyers are really for household needs or if there is a mode of resale from someone who irresponsible," said Elly.

Because, Elly received information, if some people sell cooking oil individually, either in e-commerce or opening stalls in pickup trucks.

The selling price also exceeds the government regulation which should be Rp11,500 per liter.

"There are those who sell themselves in pick-up trucks for up to Rp. 32,000 per liter. There are also those who use e-commerce. Yesterday we visited Tokopedia and Blibli.com to monitor and ask about the stock of cooking oil that was still available. We really need to monitor the price, " he said.

Elly added, to limit this incident from happening again, the retail store leaders agreed not to peddle cooking oil in the storefront anymore.

People can only buy cooking oil through the cashier so that each buyer can be better monitored.

Regarding the stock of selling cooking oil in the market, President Director of the Pasar Juara Public Company, Herry Hermawan, said that the government's move to distribute cooking oil to traditional markets was deemed appropriate.

However, Herry added, the distribution of packaged cooking oil stocks also needs to be distributed to traditional markets.

"Right now, the focus of premium oil is on retail stores. In fact, we see more public interest in packaging. Meanwhile, in bulk, there is more effort to repackage it," said Herry.

With this market operation, Herry added, it could be a strategy to prevent fraudulent oil accumulation from rogue traders.

"The distribution authority lies with the center. In our analysis, the cooking oil that is used up in the shops is not the same as the women, but by naughty traders," he said.

"Hopefully in the future it can be distributed evenly to the market to avoid naughty traders," he hoped.

Market operations will resume in the near future. It is planned that the markets that will serve as locations for the distribution of the next cooking oil stock include the Ciwastra, Andir, Astanaanyar, and Palasari markets.

"This location will be proposed to the Ministry of Trade to increase the stock of bulk and packaged cooking oil. Hopefully, until the beginning of Ramadan, cooking oil stocks in Bandung City will gradually return to normal," he said.(din)*

Head of Discominfo Bandung

Yayan A. Brilyana