Coconut oil and granulated sugar prices soar in Ternate

"Ternate city government should stabilize the price of these basic necessities which keep on soaring," said a trader, Rahmat, in Ternate, Sunday.

Even in some traditional markets in the city of Ternate as in Bastiong Inpres, the price of granulated sugar which previously Rp14,000/Kg rose to Rp16,000/Kg.

Meanwhile, coconut oil Rp14,000/Kg soars to Rp18,000/Kg.

The traders argue that the soaring price of the two basic necessities is because the distributors increased the price followed by the retailers to gain some profit

Rahmat admitted he had to sell a little bit more expensive to prevent losses particularly when there is a soaring price of the commodities from the distributors.

We took the commodity from the distributors at the price of bulk coconut oil in a 25-liter jerrycan, currently Rp235,000.

However last week the price was just Rp230,000/jerrycan.

Meanwhile, the price of 50 Kg granulated sugar previously Rp655,000, currently rose to Rp665,000.

Head of the Industry and Trade Agency Maluku Utara, Asrul Gailea, said the high price of goods in this area has nothing to do with the increase or decrease of fuel prices.

"The supply is relatively limited and ahead of the fasting month of Ramadhan so the price of basic necessities soars," he remarked

Also, speculations from the middle man caused significant increase in the price of goods taking advantage of the condition that Maluku Utara is an archipelago using ships to transport goods from the production center.

Editor: Ruslan Burhani

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