Trade Minister Says Cooking Oil Prices Affected by Plastic Crisis
Trade Minister Budi Santoso stated that the current rise in cooking oil prices is due to the plastic crisis. “There is a slight increase as well. Because, of course, it’s an impact since all their packaging is plastic,” Budi said at JIEXpo Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Thursday, 16 April 2026.
Conflicts in the Middle East are affecting the global petrochemical industry supply chain, particularly for naphtha commodities which serve as raw materials for plastic. This is impacting the dynamics of plastic raw material prices and supplies.
Data from the Ministry of Trade records that the price of Minyakita is currently at Rp 15,974 per litre, up 0.03 percent compared to 15 April 2026.
Price increases are also occurring for premium cooking oil, currently at Rp 21,706 per litre, or up 0.06 percent on a daily basis. The same applies to bulk cooking oil prices, now at Rp 19,437 per litre, or up 0.18 percent compared to yesterday.
Although there has been a price increase for cooking oil, Budi assured that the supply of the commodity is not scarce.
He explained that the supply of commercial cooking oil such as second brands and premium is abundant. However, unlike commercial cooking oil, Budi said that the supply of Minyakita is limited because its production relies on the fulfilment of domestic market obligations (DMO) by palm oil entrepreneurs.
He stated that the price and supply conditions of Minyakita cannot be used as indicators for current cooking oil prices. “As if when Minyakita is expensive, people say cooking oil is expensive. If Minyakita is not available, (cooking oil) is scarce. Even though there is plenty, there is second brand oil,” he said.
Regarding the supply of Minyakita, Budi recounted that he contacted ID Food’s President Director Ghimoyo about producers’ obligations to distribute at least 35 percent of oil for Minyakita.
He said that the Ministry of Trade will facilitate business-to-business (B2B) arrangements if there are plans to increase the Minyakita supply to 65-70 percent. “There are many private distributors running as well. So everything runs together, no problem,” said the PAN politician.
Previously, in a working meeting with Commission IV of the DPR, President Director of PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (Persero) or ID Food Ghimoyo recounted that his company is starting to have difficulty obtaining plastic packaging products. “It’s being felt on our side as food players, namely difficulty with packaging,” Ghimoyo said in the working meeting with Commission IV of the DPR on Tuesday, 7 April 2026.
Ghimoyo said the plastic crisis is occurring because producer factories are beginning to experience shortages of raw materials or plastic pellets impacted by the Middle East conflict. According to him, plastic packaging is very important for food products such as rice and cooking oil up to fertiliser. “This is more crucial, because this covers all food, all fertiliser, all rice using plastic sacks,” he said.