Housewives turn to Gasmit stove to save money

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung

Housewife Ita Juwita was upset when the government raised fuel prices as it means that she now has to spend a lot more money cooking for her 10-member family.

With the higher prices, the 25-year-old resident of Cijerah Indah, Bandung, who uses around 100 liters of kerosene per month, has to dig deeper into her wallet as it now costs Rp 2,500 (25 U.S. cent) for a liter of kerosene compared to Rp 1,200 previously.

"The kerosene stove used to be the cheapest and we used it for cooking food and boiling water," said Ita, whose family had previously used liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove. But since they finished a bottle of gas every week, with each bottle costing Rp 55,000, they switched to kerosene to save money.

"But then kerosene rose also, so that using either kerosene or gas is expensive," Ita said.

Her luck took a turn for the better when she visited a Ramadhan fair held by the West Java Office of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises at the start of the fasting month this year.

There, she spotted a Gasmit (gas minyak tanah, or kerosene) stove -- with its gas-like blue flame, which was designed by K. Fuji Agus five years ago based on existing technology -- and arrived home with one of the stoves.

Ita said she was very happy with the stove, which she purchased for Rp 225,000, as she only needed a liter of kerosene to keep it burning for four hours nonstop.

"I can save 50 percent of my expenditure on fuel thanks to the Gasmit stove," she said.

Following the fuel price increases, demand for the stoves has increased, with Jonathan, a Gasmit stove distributor in the Metro Bandung area, claiming he could sell 30 stoves a week, a significant increase from the previous five stoves a month.

"The high demand for the stoves has surprised me. When I sent samples to relatives in Manado and Medan, they asked me to send more as many people had placed orders for them," said the 65-year-old Jonathan.

Another distributor, Rully Rohimat, started his business by introducing the Gasmit stove to his relatives and neighbors in the Gunung Bohong area, Cimahi.

"At first, I bought one stove but then the orders came in. I then bought another six stoves, all sold out in two days. Now, there's a waiting list for stoves from the factory," said Rully, who sells the stoves for Rp 250,000 each.

With fuel prices on the rise, Gasmit stove have become an attractive alternative for housewives.

Fuji, who only started selling the stoves in the last three years, claimed that demand had doubled following the fuel price increases on Oct. 1.

"We usually make 500 units per month. Now, we need to produce 1,000 per month. Still, even this is not enough and many orders go on the waiting list," said Agus, who has asked his 25 workers to work overtime to fill the orders.

Apart from being efficient, Fuji said the stove, whose kerosene tank is positioned between 1.5 meters and two meters above it, does not produce black smoke, is odorless and does not irritate the eyes. It also boasts between 10,000 and 12,000 calorific output, almost equal to the heat produced by a gas stove.

He said the stove was easy to clean. However, its weakness was that one had to heat up the steel coil burning system for about four minutes with methylated spirit before using it. This caused the kerosene to produce gas when entering the coil.

However, despite rising demand, Fuji is determined not to sell the stove in hypermarkets or big supermarkets, preferring to sell it through cooperatives or sole traders.

"I don't want Gasmit to profit people who already have plenty of money," Fuji said.