Heavy rush seen at city's food markets

JAKARTA (JP): The rupiah's freefall to 10,200 against the U.S. dollar yesterday prompted crowds of shoppers to flock to markets throughout the city to purchase as many staple food items as they could.

The unexpected buying spree forced many shop owners to limit the purchase of several items and close their businesses early.

Some sellers raised their prices as much as 50 percent.

Many stores even rejected the use of credit cards.

Although there were no serious signs of panic, many stores found their shelves empty of certain staple items within just hours, particularly rice, cooking oil, milk, sugar and instant noodles.

Most supermarkets and retails shops, such as the outlets of Goro, Makro, Ramayana, Hero, Gelael and Golden Truly, were packed with shoppers.

"This panic shows us major signs of no confidence," senior economist Anwar Nasution of the University of Indonesia told The Jakarta Post last night.

"Nobody can predict how long this situation could last. It totally depends on the government's willingness to solve this crisis," he said.

Sudwikatmono, the co-owner of Golden Truly supermarket, ordered all 10 of his outlets here to close at 5 p.m. yesterday shortly after he was informed that the crowds in his stores had become too large.

"We no longer knew who the real buyers were," he told reporters last night. The businessman also said that the suppliers for his outlets were planning to increase the price of their products by 20 percent to 30 percent.

The early closure was meant to avoid chaos at the outlets, he said.

Some other stores closed early as their food stocks ran out.

"Although we ordinarily close at 10 p.m., we closed at 7.30 p.m. today because all of our stocks of staple foods completely sold out," said security guard Gatot of Hero supermarket in Megaria shopping center on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.

Operators of a new Ramayana store in Cibubur, East Jakarta, delayed opening their store until 2 p.m. even though they normally open at 8 a.m.

"I'm surprised. The price of most items in the store have been raised by 20 to 50 percent," said a customer.

Crowds of shoppers were also seen at Hero supermarket in the basement of the Sarinah building on Jl. MH Thamrin.

"I decided to buy a lot of food after I heard that many people were lining up to buy things here," said a female customer.

Heavy demand

Due to the heavy demand, the stock of rice, instant noodles and sugar at the Goro outlet in Kelapa Gading in East Jakarta ran out early in the evening.

Hasan Maulana, an executive at the outlet, said the store's supplier may have deliberately stopped distribution to wait for new prices.

Operators of the Golden Truly outlet on Jl. Gunung Sahari in Central Jakarta had to open all 18 of its cashier counters at 1 p.m. as customers packed the store.

Shoppers said they were worried that the rupiah would fall further, causing producers to sharply increase their prices.

Crowds of customers could still be found at several food stores into the night.

By 8.30 p.m., hundreds of people, including those who had just left their offices, still packed the Hero supermarket outlet at Blok M Plaza in South Jakarta.

Here customers were not allowed to use their credit cards to purchase more than two items of certain foodstuffs.

A heavy flock of customers was also seen at the Gelael store on Jl. MT Haryono in South Jakarta.

"The number of customers today is much higher than on ordinary days. Our rice is already finished," said Mesnan, an employee.

According to shoppers, people started to "attack" food stores at 10 a.m., worrying that food prices would be dramatically raised following the poor value of the rupiah.

Antara quoted an employee of Matahari department store in Senen, Central Jakarta, as saying that the decision to limit the purchase of certain items was taken following rumors that the price of a number of staple foods would be raised here.

The Post's editorial office received a series of phone calls throughout the day yesterday, asking for confirmation on rumors that riots and looting had already taken place at certain areas in the city.

As of last night, all such rumors were baseless.

In an attempt to prevent riots and looting, the City Police dispatched thousands of officers, including undercover personnel, to safeguard supermarkets and retail stores.

According to City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, the city was safe. He said all rumors of riots and chaos were untrue.

"Those rumors which have been recently circulating in the public are baseless and were made up by irresponsible parties," Hamami was quoted by his spokesman, Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, as saying last night.

Hamami vowed to trace the sources of the rumors.

"Police officers will find whoever started the rumors. Don't let yourself be fooled by these irresponsible rumors," Hamami reminded Jakartans.

He also urged store owners not to close their businesses.

Aritonang said that there were still sufficient stocks of staple items in the city's markets.

Similar to what happened in supermarkets, businesses at some traditional markets in and around the city were also experiencing abnormal sales yesterday.

In some markets, such as in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, Pasar Rebo and Pasar Jatinegara in East Jakarta, the price of staple food raised significantly almost hourly.

"There were some staple food distributors who constantly raised their prices, some from Rp 100 to Rp 700. It's crazy", said Hari Sandjoyo, head of the city regional economic bureau.

According to his data, the highest prices could be found for Cisadane rice. It leaped up to Rp 2,700 from Rp 1,900 per kilogram in several markets throughout Jakarta.

The price of prime-cut beef also climbed yesterday afternoon from Rp 13,000 to Rp 15,395 per kilogram.

"We're shocked. It's very difficult to control the price now, because people are panicking. And suppliers and sellers took advantage of the situation by selling their items at a higher price," Hari added.

Regarding the high market demand, chief of the Armed Forces' sociopolitical affairs department, Lt. Gen. Yunus Yosfiah, yesterday called on people to calm down.

"It's easy to say, but have faith that the government is trying its best to handle the crisis," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Yunus also called on the public not to be too quick in believing rumors because it would only lead to panic.

The rapid circulation of such rumors indicated that certain groups were deliberately making the situation worse, he said.

"We have reminded the public many times to increase their alertness without being too suspicious," he added. (team)