TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Arief Prasetyo Adi, head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), denied reports that the price of MinyaKita cooking oil had risen due to an increase in the global price of crude oil (CPO). According to Arief, the raw material for MinyaKita comes from the allocation of CPO for domestic market requirements (DMO) by palm oil producers.

"We are talking about the DMO here. We are not talking about anything else," Arief told reporters at Grha Mandiri, Jakarta on Monday, December 9.

Arief said palm oil companies with export permits (PE) are required to set aside a portion of their production for domestic use. It is this DMO allocation that was then used to produce the MinyaKita cooking oil.

Earlier, Godrej International Ltd director Dorab Mistry estimated that the price of CPO on the Malaysian bourse would rise to RM5,000 by June 2025.

"I believe that this figure can still reach the highest level. Therefore, we need to prepare for higher prices," he said at the 20th Indonesian Palm Oil Conference and 2025 Price Outlook (IPOC 2024) on Friday, November 8, 2024, in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Dorab said the increase in CPO prices coincided with growing demand from the biofuel industry and declining CPO productivity in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Tempo observed that MinyaKita as of today stood at Rp17,100 per liter, far above the Highest Retail Price (HET) of Rp15,700 per liter.

In a hearing with the DPR's Commission VI on Wednesday, November 20, Budi Santoso said that as of the previous day, November 19, the national average price of MinyaKita had reached Rp 17,000 per kilogram. He claimed that some regencies/cities had prices above the Highest Retail Price (HET), while some were the same as the HET. "But nationally, [the price] has indeed increased," he said.

The price hike of MinyaKita is particularly noticeable in the eastern parts of Indonesia, where the price of cooking oil is higher than the national average. According to Budi Santoso, the price increase occurred by 8.8 percent above the HET or Rp15,700.

Budi Santoso said that the rising price of cooking oil was caused by a longer distribution chain than required by the Ministry of Trade Regulation No. 18 of 2024.

"The distribution chain should be from the producer to D1, D2, and then to the retailer. However, in practice, there are several transactions from one retailer to another," Budi Santoso said.

Oyuk Ivani Siagian contributed to the writing of this article.

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