Queues of people are waiting in the scorching sun to purchase cooking oil from retail shops that provide affordable prices in Indonesia. The price inflation is creating frustration among Indonesians. It is also giving rise to a scarcity of cooking oil all over the country. Hence the situation requires the involvement of President Widodo and other authorities.
The complication regarding the scarcity of cooking oil is also heightened by the jaw dropping prices of the limited amount of cooking oil available. Since the majority of the Indonesian population belong to average to lower income families, the high cooking oil prices impose a severe threat to their savings and livelihood.
Local Media is full of footage of people struggling to purchase basic necessities at empty supermarkets. Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil provider baffled the world with its cooking oil shortage. Shopkeepers are complaining about the lack of premium quality cooking oil.
The scarcity of cooking oil affects sellers of all calibers and also mocks the income of street food vendors who make a living by selling fried food. Despite the uproar from the public, certain companies were hoarding cooking oil in warehouses. The companies were hoping to make bigger profits. The police raided several such warehouses, two of which belonged to Indonesia’s renowned mini-markets.
Although cooking oil is scarce in stores, people have noticed that cooking oil is available on e-commerce websites. This has highly improved the online sales made by online marketplaces like Takopedia. The Indonesian government is currently trying to mediate the situation.
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