Chilli Prices in Bantul Remain High, Traders Complain of Slow Sales
The price of chilli commodities, especially bird’s eye chillies, in the Imogiri Market, Bantul, is still higher than normal. Traders are complaining that the high price of chillies has caused sales to decline.
One of the traders in the Imogiri Market, Bayu Prasetyo (57), said that the increase in chilli prices had been significant since Ramadan. The price per kilogram was IDR 25-30 thousand, and now it has increased by 100%.
“At the beginning of Ramadan, the price of bird’s eye chillies reached IDR 120 thousand, but today the price of bird’s eye chillies is IDR 78 thousand per kilogram,” he said to reporters at the Imogiri Market, Bantul, Thursday (26/2/2026).
Bayu said that the price of chillies today is lower than yesterday, Wednesday (25/2/2026). Yesterday, the price of bird’s eye chillies reached IDR 85 thousand per kilogram.
“If the price of curly red chillies was IDR 40 thousand yesterday and now it is IDR 30 thousand per kilogram. For salad chillies, it is IDR 50 thousand per kilogram, and it rarely increases or decreases,” he said.
Regarding the cause of the increase in chilli prices, Bayu said it was because of Ramadan, so demand increased. However, Bayu said that he is not currently daring to stock up on a large quantity of chillies.
“But I’m not daring to stock up a lot because the price is still fluctuating,” he said.
In fact, the high price of bird’s eye chillies has caused sales to decline. However, Bayu doesn’t mind because there are still people who buy chillies.
“Demand exists but not much, so in a day, about 7-8 kilograms of chillies can be sold, whereas usually it is 10 kilograms per day,” he said.
Another chilli trader, Idayanti (42), claimed that chilli prices have decreased, albeit gradually. Even though it has decreased, Idayanti said that the price of chillies is not yet normal.
“Today, the price of bird’s eye chillies is IDR 80 thousand per kilogram, if compared to the beginning of Ramadan, it has decreased because at the beginning of Ramadan, the price of bird’s eye chillies was IDR 120 thousand per kilogram. But it is still not normal, because normally it is IDR 25-30 thousand per kilogram,” she said.
As for the price of curly red chillies, the woman wearing a hijab said it was IDR 35 thousand. According to her, the price has decreased compared to yesterday, which was IDR 60 thousand per kilogram.
“For salad chillies, it is IDR 50 thousand per kilogram, and it is stable,” she said.
Idayanti also said that the cause of the increase in chilli prices was due to weather factors. In addition, the increase in chilli prices has made her chilli sales not as good as usual.
“Now I can only sell about three kilograms of chillies a day because the price has increased. In the past, I could sell 10-15 kilograms of chillies per day, so hopefully the price can return to normal soon so that there will be more buyers,” she said.
The Deputy Regent of Bantul, Aris Suharyanta, said that he had monitored chilli prices today. The results showed that chilli prices are not yet at normal prices.
“Like chillies, the price has increased, but we checked and it turned out that the price of chillies has actually decreased, even though it is not yet at normal prices,” he said.
Aris also said that the prices of several commodities have also increased, but it is still within reasonable limits. So the local government has not held market operations.
“Not yet, but we are continuing to monitor it. Later, if there is a significant increase, we will immediately carry out market operations,” he said.
(alg/ahr)