Business Owners Complain About High Logistics Costs, Seek Solutions from Trade Minister

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The General Chairman of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Suppliers Association, Fera Umbara, has called on the government to provide solutions to the high logistics costs in the country.

Fera complained about the issue of elevated logistics costs during the Ngobrol Produk Indonesia (Ngopi) for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (UMKM) event attended by Trade Minister Budi Santoso, alias Busan.

Fera stated that they attended the event alongside the Indonesian Logistics Association (ALI) and the Indonesian African Business Council.

“I want to ask, sir, our Cost of Goods Sold (HPP) is always uncompetitive, right? Because we are an archipelagic country. If our logistics costs are high,” said Fera in Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Wednesday (13/5/2026).

According to her, logistics costs are one of the keys to enabling local products to be sold at competitive prices in the market.

“What solutions are there so that our prices can be more competitive?” Fera said.

In response to Fera’s complaint, Busan admitted that the country’s logistics costs are high because Indonesia is an archipelagic nation.

According to Busan, finding the right solution to address this issue is not easy.

“Now logistics costs are getting more expensive. We import raw materials, and besides the raw materials themselves rising, due to global crises and oil factors, logistics costs are also rising,” said Busan.

The politician from the National Mandate Party (PAN) acknowledged that the logistics problem is a collective homework assignment.

However, Busan said he could not yet explain a way out for the issue in the forum due to time constraints.

He then invited the relevant business actors to return to the Ministry of Trade to discuss the problem of high logistics costs.

“But I actually ask for input from you and all friends. Because we are together, right, our problems are together. So we’ll meet at the office later,” Busan said.

The high logistics costs in Indonesia is a long-standing issue that was once a focus of the National Strategy Team for Corruption Prevention (Stranas PK).