Food prices start to rise

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The prices of some foods have begun to rise ahead of the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan next week.

Eggs, cooking oil, coconuts and palm sugar are among those food items whose prices have risen.

Eggs have experienced the sharpest price rise, from Rp 6,500 (77 US cents) per kilogram to Rp 8,000.

The prices of red chilies, garlic, shallots, beef and fruit have remained stable.

But vendors at the Kramat Jati wholesale market in East Jakarta said the prices would go up in the next two days.

"The price of beef has remained the same, about Rp 38,000 per kilogram," said beef vendor Sugeng. "But usually the price will go up two days before the fasting month to Rp 40,000 per kilogram, and will continue rising until Idul Fitri to Rp 45,000 per kilogram."

Vegetables prices, on the other hand, tend to drop over the course of the fasting month.

A vendor at the market, Sri, said the price of kangkung, a leafy vegetable, had already dropped from Rp 200 to Rp 50 per bundle on Tuesday.

Spice prices generally rise during Ramadhan. A kilogram of shallots now costs Rp 4,000 and will like continue to rise to Rp 5,000 per kilogram. Sri said the price of a kilogram of red chilies had increased from Rp 6,000 to Rp 7,000, and tomatoes had gone up from Rp 2,000 to Rp 2,500 a kilogram.

Higher prices force consumers to set aside a larger portion of their household budgets to purchase food during the fasting month.

Mimi from Cipayung in East Jakarta, who was buying beef at the market, said that every year her grocery bill went up during Ramadhan.