Fruit prices
Fruit prices
From Media Indonesia
A friend from Singapore and I went to a market near Jl. Gunung
Sahari and Jl. Mangga Dua, Central Jakarta. We bought a Parung
durian for Rp 10,000 each. My friend was taken aback by the stiff
price. Having tasted the fruit he said it tasted about the same
as that of the durian in Singapore from Malaysia. The price is
currently low (S$1 = Rp 1,650), normally it is S$ 5. As it is,
the price of durian in Jakarta is six times that in Singapore.
My friend does not understand either why Pontianak oranges
priced at only Rp 500 (the same in Bangkok at 5 Baht) for the A-B
type, are sold for Rp 3,500 to Rp 4,000 a kilogram in Jakarta.
Oranges from Pakistan also cost Rp 4,000 a kilogram. To explain
the situation I could only quote what businessman Sofyan Wanandi
said on television -- that the cause is the complexity of the
trade and distribution network of oranges.
We wonder indeed why imported fruit from the U.S., Australia,
Taiwan, Thailand and New Zealand are cheaper than local fruit,
while in those countries wages are much higher. Why do our
agronomists, from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture for example,
not try to compete? In horticulture we should not expect
investment from conglomerates, because business in horticulture
is long term and not the same as property, which is a short term
affair. In my opinion the state-owned enterprises should actively
plant fruit trees so that by 2010 the harvest can be sold at less
than imported fruit. Discounted transport fees from the state-
owned airlines Garuda and Merpati will be necessary for effective
distribution. Thai Airways once participated in a similar program
in Thailand.
Every year, toward Ramadhan, we import thousands of tons of
dates. Why do we not try to plant date palms in East Nusa
Tenggara or Timor where the soil is more arid? California is now
one of the biggest exporters of dates in the world.
This is a challenge for our agronomists. In horticulture we
are indeed far behind our neighbor Thailand. Thai durian is
actually a cross between the Aceh and another Sumatran variety.
LI TJENG OEN
Jakarta