Ministers to Gather at Airlangga's Office Tomorrow to Discuss Plastic Prices!

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The government will hold a special cross-ministry and agency (K/L) meeting tomorrow, Tuesday (28/4/2026), to respond to the rising prices of goods, a consequence of the high global plastic prices.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto stated that this meeting to address the soaring global plastic prices will be held by the Task Force for Accelerating Strategic Government Programmes (Satgas P2SP).

“Tomorrow we will discuss it in the Satgas team meeting. The Task Force for Accelerating the National Economy. Including debottlenecking,” said Airlangga at his office in Jakarta on Monday (27/4/2026).

Airlangga said that one of the discussion points relates to plans for providing stimulus so that the effects of the global plastic price increase do not continuously drive up domestic goods prices.

Nevertheless, he asked all parties to wait for the results of tomorrow’s meeting to learn the details of the policy plans for handling global plastic prices. “Wait, it will be discussed tomorrow,” he emphasised.

Airlangga serves as Deputy Chair I of the Task Force, with the State Secretary as Deputy Chair II. The Task Force has three deputy chairs: the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Investment and Downstreaming/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), and the Minister of National Development Planning/Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas).

As is known, the rise in global plastic prices has also pushed up the prices of essential goods for the public, one of which is cooking oil.

Based on observations by CNBC Indonesia at Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta on Monday (27/4/2026), cooking oil prices have risen across all types, both premium and bulk oil.

Tono, one of the traders at Pasar Minggu, revealed that cooking oil prices remain high.

“The price hasn’t come down yet; the Tropical 2-litre is still Rp45,000, Tropical 1-litre Rp22,500, Sovia isn’t 1 litre but 800 ml for Rp20,000,” said Tono when met by CNBC Indonesia on Monday (27/4/2026).

Not only branded cooking oil, second-brand cooking oil prices are also still high. In his shop, Fitri cooking oil is sold in 400 ml and 200 ml bottles. The prices are also still high.

“The Fitri 400 ml is Rp15,000, Fitri 200 ml Rp7,000,” he continued.

Meanwhile, for Minyakita, he said he has deliberately not sold it for a long time.

“For Minyakita, we don’t sell it; it’s been a while, not because it’s unavailable, we just don’t sell it,” he said.

In agreement with Tono, another trader, Yusuf, stated that cooking oil prices remain high. Even for bulk cooking oil, he sells it at Rp23,000 per 1 kg.

“Yes, cooking oil prices are still high; premium 2-litre cooking oil is over Rp40,000, bulk cooking oil is now Rp23,000 per 1 kg,” said Yusuf.

In fact, bulk cooking oil prices once rose to Rp25,000 per 1 kg at the start of the Iran vs United States (US) war.

“Bulk cooking oil 1 kg even reached Rp25,000 before Eid; now it’s down, but still high; usually it’s Rp19,000-Rp20,000,” he explained.

Although prices remain high, cooking oil supplies are still normal with no shortages. However, many traders do not sell Minyakita.

“For regular cooking oil, the stock is still safe, but for Minyakita, it’s unavailable now; usually it comes every two weeks, about 10 units, but now there’s none,” he said.

Nevertheless, Deputy Minister of Industry Faisol Riza assessed that public concerns about plastic supplies in the country, which lead to ripple effects of price increases in other goods, are unfounded when looking at the real conditions on the ground. He stated that raw material supplies are still sufficient to support the increasing needs of the national industry.

“Plastic raw materials are very adequately available in the domestic industry. Therefore, we don’t need to worry. Companies needing plastic can source it from domestic producers,” said Riza in his statement on Friday (24/4/2026).

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesia Biaxially Oriented Films Association (ABOFI) Santoso Samudra Tan views the scarcity issue as more driven by market sentiment than actual supply conditions.

“It should be underlined that those directly affected are plastic pellets, naphtha, and main raw materials for the plastic industry. However, in terms of availability, raw materials are still relatively safe and production continues smoothly,” said Santoso.

He warned against perceptions of scarcity leading to policies that open the floodgates to excessive imports of finished products, as this risks pressuring the domestic downstream industry.

“If imports are only raw materials like plastic pellets, that can still be accepted. But if imports include finished products, this has the potential to harm the domestic downstream industry, which actually still has adequate production capacity,” he emphasised.