Housewives turn to Gasmit stove to save money

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.