Government Enhances Red Onion Market Operations in Jakarta

Red onion prices are expected to stabilize in the next 30-40 days. Meanwhile, farmers' grain prices are still below the new HPP.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO (TOK)

Traders are cleaning red onions from Brebes that have just arrived at the Kramat Jati Wholesale Market, East Jakarta on Monday (22/4/2024). Currently, the wholesale price of red onions is in the range of IDR 60,000 - IDR 70,000 per kilogram (kg), far more expensive than the price in early April 2024, which was around IDR 28,000 per kg.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – National Food Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture are accelerating market operations shallots through the Cheap Food Movement or GPM program. The movement, which targets 63 locations and two horticultural farmer partner markets in Jakarta, will be held on April 29-May 8 2024.

The government will provide affordable packaged 0.5 kilogram (kg) and 1 kg red onions of the types "Batu Ijo", "Bima Brebes" and "Brebes Super". The "Batu Ijo" red onion can be purchased for Rp 25,000 per kg, "Bima Brebes" for Rp 35,000 per kg, and "Brebes Super" for Rp 40,000 per kg.

Based on data from the National Food Body's Food Price Panel (Bapanas), the national average price of shallots at the consumer level has been above the reference sale price (HAP) since April 3, 2024. The average price on H-7 of Lebaran is Rp 36,230 per kg.

The price continues to fluctuate, even surpassing the upper limit of the price ceiling for shallots. As of Sunday (28/4/2024), the average price reached Rp 50,820 per kg. This price is above the upper and lower limits of the price ceiling for shallots at the consumer level, which is Rp 36,500-Rp 41,500 per kg.

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

The Head of the National Food Agency (Bapans), Arief Prasetyo Adi, answered questions from journalists after attending a limited meeting on increasing production and product diversification in the food industry at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Monday (10/7/2023).

The Head of Bapanas, Arief Prasetyo Adi, said that the Red Onion Market Operations (GPM) is a form of collaborative work to maintain the stabilization of the stock and price of the commodity. The GPM also involves the Ministry of Agriculture, several leading red onion farmers, market traders, as well as state-owned and village-owned enterprises.

"Through the GPM, the community can buy shallots at more affordable prices because the commodity comes from farmers. We estimate that the price of shallots can stabilize again within the next 30-40 days," he said in a press release in Jakarta.

The potential loss of shallot production could be around 25,000 tons.

Arief explained that the increase in the price of shallots occurred because the production of shallots in several central regions has decreased due to floods. Some of these regions include Brebes, Kendal, Demak, Grobogan, and Pati in Central Java, and Cirebon in West Java.

Red onion plants affected by floods in those areas cover an area of about 7,500 hectares. Of that amount, red onion plants on 2,500 hectares of land experienced failure or harvest failure.

Also read: Thousands of Houses in Brebes Submerged in Floods, Hundreds of People Displaced

"The potential loss of shallot production could reach around 25,000 tons. Other factors that affect it are the limited workforce starting from the producer level, distributor, to the market before and several days after Eid," said Arief.

In the upcoming GPM, the government will also provide a number of other affordable food commodities. These include rice, cooking oil, refined sugar, chicken eggs and meat, garlic, curly red chili peppers, red cayenne peppers, and frozen beef.

Farmers' grain prices

As for the price of harvested dry paddy (GKP) at the farmer level, the decline in commodity prices has been temporarily halted amidst the rice harvest season. This is due to the government implementing a reference price for government purchases (HPP) for GKP and deciding that the HPP for GKP at the farmer level will remain at Rp 6,000 per kg.

Bapanas has implemented a temporary HPP and GKP from April 3 to June 30, 2024. Later, on April 24, 2024, Bapanas decided to raise the fixed HPP GKP from Rp 5,000 per kg to Rp 6,000 per kg. However, this policy has still not lifted the price of GKP for farmers in accordance with the new HPP GKP.

We hope that the price of GKP can continue to rise to at least the same as the new HPP GKP.

The Chairman of the Indonesian Farmers' Unity Association (HKTI) in Demak District, Central Java, Hery Sugiharto, said on Sunday that the GKP HPP at the farmer level of IDR 6,000 per kg is indeed not in line with the farmers' proposal. Several farmers' organizations proposed that the HPP be set at IDR 6,500-7,000 per kg.

Nevertheless, HPP is able to suppress the decline of GKP prices at the farmer level during the peak of the rice harvest. In Demak, the GKP price at the farmer level, which previously fell to Rp 5,500 per kg, began to rise to Rp 5,600 per kg.

"We hope that the price of GKP can continue to rise to at least the same as the new GKP HPP," he said when contacted from Jakarta.

Also read: HET for Medium Rice and Increased HAP for Corn

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Farm workers display their harvest of Inpari 32 Dry Harvested Rice (GKP) in Sarimukti village, Cibitung district, Bekasi regency, West Java on Friday (April 26, 2024). The Inpari 32 variety of GKP is sold by farmers for Rp 4,000 to Rp 5,000 per kilogram depending on the quality.

Based on the data from the National Food Price Panel, as of April 28, 2024 at 11:00, the national average price of GKP at the farmer level is Rp 5,770 per kg. Meanwhile, when the temporary HPP for GKP was implemented on April 3, 2024, the national average price for GKP farmers briefly dropped to Rp 5,690 per kg on April 23, 2024.

However, when Bapanas announced that the reference price for unmilled rice would remain at Rp 6,000 per kg on April 24, 2024, the price for farmers' unmilled rice tended to increase, although it still fluctuated around Rp 5,700-5,740 per kg. The price has also not yet reached the new reference price for unmilled rice.

Currently, the lowest GKP prices are found in Tulang Bawang Regency, Lampung and Purworejo, Central Java, at Rp 4,600 per kg. Meanwhile, the highest GKP prices are in Tanah Datar and Lima Puluh Kota Regencies in West Sumatra, at Rp 8,000 per kg.

Also read: Grain HPP IDR 6,000 per kilogram is considered not yet profitable for farmers