Indonesia: Commodity Prices Soar Due to Bad Weather

• Jan 04, 2018

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Data from the Trade Ministry show that commodity prices soared on January 2-3. The commodities are rice, wheat, soybean, meat, eggs, onion, instant noodles and beans.

Director General of Trade for the Trade Ministry Tjahya Widayanti said that the price increase was caused by bad weather that has occurred since the end of last year.

Bank Indonesia has reported commodity prices increase, including chili peppers, green bird’s eye chili, red bird’s eye chili, cooking oil and premium sugar.

“Plants are prone to rain showers. It’s the law of supply-demand; it happens [due to rising demand],” Tjahya Widayanti said today.

According to Tjahya, the government has issued Agriculture Minister’s Regulation No. 27/2017 on  benchmark staple food prices for farmers and consumers that applies since May 16, 2017.

The staple foods are rice, corn, soybean, sugar, cooking oil, red onion, frozen meat, chicken and eggs.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/01/04/056914548/Commodity-Prices-Soar-Due-to-Bad-Weather