Trade Minister to Seek Explanation from Village Minister Regarding Restrictions on Modern Retail in Villages

The Minister of Trade, Budi Santoso, stated that he would seek clarification from the Minister of Villages, Yandri Susanto, regarding his intention to regulate the expansion of modern retail in villages. “I made a promise with Mr. Minister of Villages. We will discuss this during another event,” he said in Central Jakarta, Tuesday, February 24, 2026.

The presence of modern retail in villages has recently become a topic of discussion among ministers, including Yandri Susanto.

In a working meeting with Commission V of the DPR on November 12, 2025, Yandri said that the development of the Merah Putih Village Cooperative would not run optimally if the expansion of minimarkets was not regulated. “It means it’s not a fair comparison. They are already very large and have a monopoly,” said Yandri.

Responding to the government’s plan to regulate expansion, the Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Iqbal Shoffan Shofwan, stated that the regulation of modern retail businesses still refers to Government Regulation Number 28 of 2025.

Iqbal said that changes to the rules regarding the expansion of modern retail would be made after first reviewing the dynamics on the ground.

According to Iqbal, the expansion of businesses from tens of thousands of modern retail chains such as Alfamart has so far been focused in urban areas. This is because, according to him, business owners consider the demographics and income of the population in an area before expanding.

That is why, according to him, modern retail has not flourished in villages. “So far, we rarely find modern retail chains in villages. So I don’t think there is a problem,” said Iqbal.

He said that the Ministry of Trade is actually encouraging partnerships between cooperatives and modern retail. According to him, the Merah Putih Village Cooperative and modern retail have different characteristics. Cooperatives, for example, primarily accommodate products from their respective villages.

However, Iqbal stated that there is an opportunity for cooperatives to expand to market products produced by MSMEs from other villages. Meanwhile, Iqbal said that the majority of goods sold in modern retail are factory-produced.

Andi Adam Faturrahman contributed to the writing of this article.