Drop in food prices linked to supplies

JAKARTA (JP): The prices of foodstuffs have started plummeting from their crisis-induced highs as supplies flood the city markets, an official said yesterday.

Santoso of the city's Regional Economic Bureau said the prices of items such as rice, cooking oil, meat, sugar and wheat flour were gradually becoming stable.

Based on the bureau's latest data, the price of Cianjur rice has dropped from Rp 3,500 per kilogram to Rp 2,300, while Cianjur Slip rice has plunged to Rp 2,075 from Rp 3,200 per kilogram.

Cooking oil which previously sold for Rp 4,300 per kilogram has fallen to Rp 3,500, wheat flour is Rp 1,200 per kilogram from Rp 1,300 and sugar is Rp 1,800 per kilogram from Rp 2,200.

"But actually there are certain items that keep going up, such as chicken which is still Rp 8,500 per kilogram from Rp 3,500 at the beginning of the monetary crisis," Santoso said. "This is mainly due to the collapse of poultry farms.

"Jakarta is also getting more rice supplies from nearby areas such as Karawang and Cianjur (West Java). Now is the harvesting season for rice... so we have enough supplies."

Santoso said there were also adequate supplies of cooking oil, wheat flour and meat, and the prices of vegetables have also dropped as provisions pour in from West, Central and East Java.

And the stocks held by the city branch of the State Logistics Agency (Dolog Jaya) as of March 2 were 162,104 tons of rice, 90,157 tons of sugar and 81,342 tons of wheat flour.

Commenting on the distribution of food packages for the needy, Deputy Governor for Welfare Affairs Djailani said the municipality has been selling food packages for Rp 2,000 each.

One package contains five kilograms of rice, one kilogram of cooking oil, two kilograms of sugar, five packets of instant noodles and a bottle of soy sauce.

"The city offers food supplies at much lower prices than the markets," he said.

"The city is charging the residents because we want to educate people... if we give everything for free, people will always come back for more. That is why the price we set is very low."

But Djailani condemned the actions of some officials who reportedly sold food packages donated to the municipality instead of giving them away.

"To date I haven't received any reports about it," he added.

The latest recipients of foodstuffs were 19,100 police officers in Greater Jakarta who picked up the packages yesterday from their respective headquarters. (edt/cst)