Here's the Chronology of Minyakita Disappearing from Pasar Senen Market According to Traders
Traders of cooking oil at Pasar Senen in Central Jakarta have revealed details about the sales of Minyakita, whose supply has currently vanished. Several cooking oil traders stated that Minyakita supplies have been extremely scarce since the introduction of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme. This scarcity has even made the traders reluctant to sell Minyakita.
One of them, Desi, revealed that Minyakita supplies are very limited at Pasar Senen, making it so that she always fails to get an allocation of Minyakita to sell.
“Minyakita is scarce right now; it seems like since the MBG programme started, we haven’t been getting any here, so I don’t want to sell Minyakita for now,” said Desi when met by CNBC Indonesia on Monday (11/5/2026).
However, there is something surprising: Minyakita supplies were plentiful during visits or market inspections.
“In normal conditions like this, supplies are just not there, but when an inspection is about to happen, suddenly they become abundant,” she added.
Desi further explained that the last time she received supplies and sold Minyakita was two months ago.
“Actually, if we’re talking about it being hard to get Minyakita, it’s been that way for a long time—about a year—but there was a time when we got some, I think at the beginning of this year, but after that, it’s been hard again,” she clarified.
She added that the last time she received and sold Minyakita, the price reached Rp20,000 for one litre.
“When we did sell it, it reached Rp20,000 for one litre, but that wasn’t at the beginning of this year; it’s been a while,” she said.
In contrast to Desi, another trader, Minah, chose not to sell Minyakita not because of limited supplies, but because her regular customers rarely buy Minyakita. However, at her shop, she often doesn’t get an allocation of Minyakita.
“Minyakita is indeed scarce here; I myself always miss out, but I’ve actually stopped selling it—not because it’s scarce, but because my regular customers don’t buy Minyakita,” said Minah.
She continued that some traders always receive Minyakita allocations. However, according to her, this time almost all traders are not getting Minyakita to sell.
“There are some shops that used to always get Minyakita allocations; as for me, I usually miss out, but apparently the other traders who always get it, this time they don’t get it either,” said Minah.
As a note, the Ministry of Trade has issued Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) No. 43 of 2025 on Packaged Palm Cooking Oil and the Governance of People’s Cooking Oil. One of the provisions regulates that at least 35% of the realisation of domestic market obligations must be fulfilled through Bulog and state-owned food companies.
Meanwhile, Permendag 43 of 2025 regulates administrative requirements for business actors participating in the People’s Cooking Oil (MGR) programme and using the MINYAKITA brand. Business entities must have a Business Identification Number (NIB) with the Indonesian Standard Industrial Classification (KBLI) as follows:
Producers: Must have KBLI 10437 (Palm Cooking Oil Industry) and valid business permits.
Packers: Must have KBLI 82920 (Packaging Services) and 46315 (Wholesale Trade of Vegetable Oils and Fats), or KBLI 10437 (Palm Cooking Oil Industry).
Meanwhile, the government also regulates retail-level sales to protect consumers. Retailers have three main obligations:
Sell People’s Cooking Oil at a price at or below the Highest Retail Price (HET) of Rp15,700 per litre.
Comply with sales quantity restrictions (rationing) set by the Director General.
Must display information on the HET that is easily visible to consumers at the business premises.