Green hot chili peppers go through the roof

Green hot chili peppers go through the roof

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although the prices of several food products, particularly
vegetables and cooking spices, have dropped a bit this week due
to the peaceful campaign period, market confidence remains low,
with some traders complaining about a loss of customers.

Ibu Parmo, a trader of small green chili peppers at the Kramat
Jati wholesale traditional market, said that business was slow
after the price jumped to Rp 20,000 (US$2.3) per kilogram (kg)
from Rp 7,000 to Rp 10,000 before the election campaign.

"I think the high price really hit the people's purchasing
power," she deduced on Wednesday.

Other Kramat Jati wholesalers and middlemen who sell to other
traditional markets and smaller traders in Jakarta, said the
price hike since the campaign period started on March 11 was due
to short supply.

They said there was a reluctance on the part of suppliers in
the villages or other regions to transport goods to the capital,
fearing a chaotic election campaign period.

The situation had earlier been predicted by the Indonesian
Food and Beverages Association chairman Thomas Darmawan who said
there would be a disruption of distribution of basic food
commodities during the campaign.

Yadi, an onion trader at the Kramat Jati market, said onions
had been around Rp 4,500 per kg since Monday, a decrease from Rp
5,300 last week.

He added that the price decrease was also caused by
competition with imported onions from Thailand, which have
entered the market.

The price of red hot chili peppers has come back down to
around Rp 9,000 per kg from Rp 13,000 last week, garlic now costs
Rp 3,500, while tomatoes are at Rp 7,000 from Rp 8,000 last week.
When there have been no disruptions over the past few years,
tomatoes average about Rp 4,000 per kg.

Vegetable seller, Ibu Ayu, of Kebon Kacang in the Bintaro area
said that some of the market traders had also been complaining
that the recent flooding in Java had caused a slowdown in
supplies as well.

She said she might quit selling vegetables until the campaign
period was over, or until prices went back down, as her customers
were complaining and buying fewer vegetables than before.

Maggie Augusta, a resident of Bintaro, said that she had
stopped buying vegetables and cooking spices because prices had
soared, especially chili peppers.

"We basically have changed the way we cook our meals. We
normally cook fried chicken with chili pepper sauce, but now we
make fried chicken with soy sauce," she said.

Another resident, Ani, who runs a soto ayam (chicken soup)
food stall, said the high prices have caused her to temporarily
close the business.

"The tomatoes and chili peppers we use in cooking the soup
cost so much now ... we cannot afford to stay open. We will just
have to wait until the election is over and see what happens."