Malang, (malangkota.go.id) – In the month of Ramadan 1442 Hijri, the stock of staple foods in Malang City is still safe so far. In general, the price of staple foods is stable, and distribution from distributors is also smooth. This was conveyed by the Head of Trade, Sapto Wibowo, SH., M.Hum when met at the Office of the Cooperatives, Industry and Trade Service (Diskopindag) of Malang City, Wednesday (22/4/2021).

Sapto said that monitoring is carried out continuously every day so that when there is an increase, the cause and solution are immediately sought. From this monitoring, officers report every day to the Malang City Diskopindag. There are two information system-based monitors. The first is https://siskaperbapo.com/ which is monitored by the Province of East Java and https://sembakomalang.com/ is monitored by the City of Malang.
Head of Control and Supervision Section Luh Putu Eka Wilantari, SH., M.Hum said that siskaperbapo was directly monitored by the province. There are five markets there. Then the rest of the five markets, around 13 markets are monitored by sembakomalang.
"So there are 18 markets that sell basic and important goods (bapokting) which are always monitored by Diskopindag," explained Eka.
For the time being, the price that has increased is broiler chicken. According to him, because of the trend approaching the month of Ramadan or fasting, many people do megengan. After that, maybe approaching Eid al-Fitr it will increase again. However, the increase is also not too significant and people consider it normal.
For the price of eggs, it has started to stabilize at around Rp22 thousand to Rp23 thousand. Then the price of chili which used to reach Rp110 thousand and is now around Rp40 thousand. "So in general the price is stable. If later there is a price fluctuation that significantly increases the basic necessities, Diskopindag will implement a cheap market," he continued.
This is done if the stock is still large, then consumers are still able to reach and buy, then it will be postponed first. For example, he said, sugar in 2019 cost Rp17 thousand to Rp18 thousand. It was immediately done by the cheap market because the highest retail price was Rp12 thousand.
"What we are worried about is that if we hold a cheap market, while the increase in the market is not significant, consumers will not be interested," added Eka.
He said he was ready if he had to hold a cheap market because there was coordination with Bulog, sugar factories, chicken and egg farmers, shallot farmers, and garlic. So if at any time needed they are ready to supply at prices below market prices.
For anticipation, he continued, the availability and price of basic necessities are always monitored every day, even the monitoring officers work on Saturdays and Sundays. "We don't just monitor, oh the price has gone up. But we will look for the cause and solution. Until now, the price of basic necessities is still below the highest retail price," concluded Eka. (eka/ram)