Plastic Now Expensive, Food Vendors Still Hesitant to Raise Selling Prices
JAKARTA - Several street food vendors are still hesitant to raise food prices due to the increase in plastic costs.
One of them, Raden Arka (29), a fried rice seller, stated that the plastic price hike has occurred over the past few weeks.
“If it’s up to me personally, the fried rice already has listed prices, so I don’t know about the future. If it continues like this, it might have to go up,” said Raden when met in the Jatinegara area, Wednesday (1/4/2026).
“If it’s up to me personally, it’s difficult (to find alternatives to plastic) because plastic is like a staple item. We’re already too dependent on plastic,” he added.
Unlike Arka, Parti (57), a grilled catfish seller, admitted to being worried about losing customers if prices are raised.
“We can’t raise them, because the usual price means fewer buyers. So we won’t increase our food prices; we’ll stick to the same level,” Parti explained.
She chose to take a thin profit rather than lose customers amid the rising plastic prices.
“Plastic clips were initially Rp 10,000, now Rp 20,000. It’s really tough because our sales are already slow, not good. So if all goods rise, we’ll be in trouble again,” said Parti.
She hopes plastic prices will decrease, given that several raw material prices are rising and they still rely on plastic.
The impact is not only felt at the global level but is also starting to appear in Indonesia’s domestic market.
Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan said that the surge in plastic prices has been complained about by vendors in recent days.
This increase is said to be related to plastic raw materials derived from fossil energy.
“I’ve heard that plastic pellets have risen extraordinarily. Because plastic comes from fuel oil,” Zulkifli said when met at Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, on Saturday (28/3/2026).
According to him, the plastic price increase can no longer be called an ordinary rise but a sharp surge.
“Yes, we will certainly discuss it specifically, why it suddenly rose so high,” he added.