Ministry of Trade Blames Public Panic Buying in Rare Cooking Oil

Ministry of Commerce say scarcity cooking oil lately triggered by panic buying or panic buying public. The panic buying triggered residents to ‘hoard’ cooking oil at home.

Inspector General of the Ministry of Trade Didid Noordiatmoko said the suspicion was based on the recent production of cooking oil which was already approaching domestic demand.

According to data from the Ministry of Trade, since imposing the DMO obligation for cooking oil producers on February 14 to March 8, 2022, the supply of CPO has managed to reach 110,000 tons and RBD palm olein 463,886 tons.

Of that amount, the total distributed DMO reached 415,787 tons. The distribution is in the form of bulk cooking oil and packaged cooking oil.

The supply was said to be sufficient. Thus, the scarcity of cooking oil should be resolved no later than the end of March 2022.

He said the government is gradually resolving the issue of production to distribution of cooking oil so that it can be obtained easily, at an affordable price for the community.

But in the midst of the stock flood, a new problem arose which was the impact of rising prices and scarcity of goods.

Because it was difficult to get cooking oil at an affordable price, people bought more than they needed when they got the opportunity.

[Gambas:Video CNN]

In fact, research results say the need for cooking oil per person is only 0.8-1 liter per month. This means that now many households stock cooking oil.

“But this is only indicated,” he added during a working visit to Palembang as quoted from Antara, Tuesday (8/3).

Another estimate was conveyed by the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi. Instead, he suspects that the scarcity of cooking oil is triggered by distribution jams.

“I have said that this is a traffic jam and we don’t want to speculate on who. But what is certain is that there is a traffic jam in the distribution channel or there are illegal actions that can illegally sell this (cooking oil) for export,” he said at a press conference privately. virtual, Wednesday (9/3).

Therefore, his party together with the Food Task Force (Satgas) and all ministries/agencies will take firm action against those who hinder supply and distribution by hoarding, price-playing and other unlawful actions.

“We have coordinated with the National Police and we remind all those who follow this cooking oil trading system to comply,” he said.

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