BPS East Java: Chilli peppers and rice drive inflation to 0.95 per cent in February
Surabaya, East Java — The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded month-on-month inflation of 0.95 per cent in East Java during February 2026, driven by rising prices of chilli peppers, gold jewellery and chicken.
Commodities contributing to inflation included red bird’s eye chilli peppers, gold jewellery, broiler chicken, air transport, chicken eggs, shallots, rice, red chilli peppers, motorcars, machine-made clove cigarettes (SKM), oranges, motorcycles, and sweet corn.
“The main commodities driving February inflation were red bird’s eye chilli peppers, gold jewellery, and broiler chicken,” said Ike Rahayu Sri, Senior Statistician at BPS East Java, during a press conference in Surabaya on Monday.
Rahayu explained that the government had set 1 Ramadan 1447 Hijri on 19 February, which drove increased demand for several types of foodstuffs. Various religious activities and traditional celebrations held to mark both occasions, including the megengan tradition, boosted demand for food commodities, causing prices to rise in February 2026 and triggering inflation.
Additionally, commodity price increases were driven by moderate to heavy rainfall across East Java during February 2026, which disrupted both the quantity and quality of harvests as well as the distribution process for several food commodities.
PT Pertamina’s (Persero) adjustment of general fuel oil (BBM) prices and PT PLN’s (Persero) electricity tariff discount policies also influenced the extent of February 2026 inflation.
Regarding gold prices, although they declined in early February 2026, they subsequently increased and remained relatively stable through the end of February, meaning average prices for the month remained higher than January 2026 and contributed to inflation.
In detail, red bird’s eye chilli peppers experienced inflation of 63.73 per cent, contributing 0.23 per cent to overall inflation, whilst broiler chicken experienced inflation of 9.34 per cent with a contribution of 0.17 per cent.
Shallots experienced inflation of 6.82 per cent with a contribution of 0.03 per cent, gold jewellery experienced inflation of 8.26 per cent with a contribution of 0.2 per cent, and air transport experienced inflation of 3.6 per cent with a contribution of 0.05 per cent.
Chicken eggs also experienced inflation of 4.32 per cent contributing 0.04 per cent to overall inflation, whilst rice experienced inflation of 0.41 per cent with a contribution of 0.02 per cent.
As a result of inflation in February, year-on-year inflation for February 2026 versus February 2025 reached 4.88 per cent, whilst calendar year inflation from February 2026 versus December 2025 reached 0.74 per cent.
All 11 municipalities and cities experienced inflation, with the highest recorded in Sumenep at 6.37 per cent and the lowest in Gresik at 3.96 per cent.
Other municipalities and cities recorded inflation as follows: Kediri at 5.22 per cent, Surabaya at 5.11 per cent, Tulungagung at 5.06 per cent, Probolinggo at 5.44 per cent, Jember at 4.86 per cent, Malang at 4.81 per cent, Bojonegoro at 4.69 per cent, Banyuwangi at 4.47 per cent, and Madiun at 4.4 per cent.