Supply of vegetables, rice disrupted due to flooding

Supply of vegetables, rice disrupted due to flooding

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The supply of vegetables, fruit and staple food to the city
has been disrupted in the past few days since floods hit several
parts of Central and East Java, vendors said on Saturday.

A number of vendors in three main traditional markets in
Kramatjati, Cipinang and Jatinegara separately told Minister of
Agriculture Bungaran Saragih, who visited the places, that they
had received fewer supplies.

This was not only due to floods, which hampered
transportation, but also because the plantations had been
inundated due to heavy rain, Antara reported.

"In the past few days, we received fewer vegetables,
especially red chilies and onions," Rasyid, who sold vegetables
in Kramat Jati, said.

Aside from the transportation problem, water had inundated the
land where the chilies and onions were grown in Brebes, Central
Java, he added.

Rasyid also alleged that a part of the supply, which should
have been transported to Jakarta, might have been sent to other
areas like Medan. This happened because the onion suppliers in
Sumatra, which was supposed to serve Medan, were facing similar
problems.

Disruption to the supply of vegetables has reportedly caused
sharp increases in the price of some commodities.

A housemaid in Bintaro, south of Jakarta, however, said that
prices were still stable.

"I bought some vegetables this morning, and the prices were
the same," she said.

Meanwhile, head of Cipinang market Nasion Baktiono said that
normally, the city received between 1,800 tons to 2,200 tons of
rice per day, but this month the daily supply had dropped by 20
percent.

He speculated that there might be some traders hoarding rice
as they would not sell it until Idul Fitri drew close, when
prices usually rose.

During the fasting month, the price of foodstuffs usually
increases because there is more demand -- either for buyers' own
consumption or for distribution to the poor.

Saragih called upon the public not to worry because there was
still a sufficient supply of rice, sugar, cooking oil and other
kinds of stable food.

From October to December this year, there would be 8.4 tons of
locally produced rice, he said. In addition, the Logistics Depot
still had 1.4 tons in stock, while another 4 tons were in the
market.

As for cooking oil, in the past three months production had
reached 1.7 tons, far more than the amount people needed, which
was only 0.7 ton, Saragih said.