Klojen (malangkota.go.id) – Acting Mayor of Malang Dr. Ir. Wahyu Hidayat, MM accompanied by the Regional Secretary (Sekda) of Malang City Erik Setyo Santoso, ST, MT, Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of Malang City, Umar Sjaifudin, along with the heads of regional apparatus (PD) and BUMD who are members of the Regional Inflation Control Team (TPID) attended the online Inflation Control Coordination Meeting held by the Indonesian Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) from the Ngalam Command Center (NCC) Room, Malang City Hall, Monday (29/1/2024).
As in the third week of January coordination meeting held last week, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian expressed his appreciation to all parties who continue to strive to keep the inflation rate under control. Currently, the national inflation rate is still quite under control, where the inflation rate in December 2023 was 2,61% (yoy), down from November's inflation of 2,86%. Even so, a number of commodities still contribute to the increase in inflation in a number of regions, such as rice, which is the commodity with the largest inflation contribution of 0,53% (yoy).
"The main point is that we continue to work to control inflation which is currently quite well maintained. But we always update because it is always changing, and currently the commodities that are of concern to us together are garlic, rice, chicken eggs, and also corn, especially corn for livestock feed," he explained.
Minister Tito said the current rate of increase in rice commodity inflation can still be controlled by providing rice food assistance and other movements that are also effective in holding back food inflation. Among the assistance from the government related to the distribution of this rice commodity is the Market Price Supply Stabilization (SPHP) activity carried out by Perum BULOG in collaboration with the Regional Government in order to control inflation, especially the food group by forming a 'Hub or Stockist' in the market.
Malang City is one of the areas that carries out this SPHP activity through the Warung Tekan Inflation Mbois Ilakes program which was previously carried out in three markets in Malang City, namely Dinoyo Market, Pasar Besar Market, and Blimbing Market. Through the distribution of this SPHP, the Highest Retail Price (HET) can be maintained to the end consumer. The realization of SPHP as of January 28, 2024 was 121.294 tons.
"I think the Food Agency's steps are quite a lot to stabilize prices, starting from SPHP rice and commercial rice reserves, distribution of food aid, and also distribution of eggs and chicken meat for handling stunting, cheap food movements at a number of points in 38 provinces and also facilitating food distribution from surplus to minus areas," he explained again.
In addition to rice, Minister Tito said that corn is also a commodity that should be watched out for. It is recorded that the price of corn has soared as of January 26, 2024, the average price has reached IDR 8.290/kg (up 13,56% compared to January 1). This price is already 65,8% higher than the Purchase Reference Price (HAP). This high price disparity between regions indicates that the problem lies in supply. The National Food Agency (Bapanas) noted that there is currently a corn deficit in January 2024. Assuming a productivity of 5,8 tons/ha, corn production in January 2024 will only be around 693,7 thousand tons. On the other hand, the need for corn for feed is 1,12 million tons per month (Bapanas). So there is a deficit of around 462 thousand tons. Imports in January 2024 are too small to cover the deficit.
After attending the coordination meeting, Acting Mayor of Malang Wahyu Hidayat instructed the Malang City TPID to intervene in order to prevent an increase in food prices due to the increase in corn prices, especially for egg and chicken meat commodities. Although the price of chicken and eggs is currently at a safe level, it is important for the Malang City TPID to think about efforts to prevent prices from rising to the consumer level.
"Since early January, the Minister of Home Affairs has reminded people to be aware of the increase in corn prices. Because it is feared that it will also affect the price of eggs and chicken meat. While the price has not increased, we need to intervene to prevent that from happening," he said.
Wahyu said that in maintaining the rate of inflation, his party plans to synergize with other regions with surplus commodity levels, such as Probolinggo Regency for onion commodities, and Malang Regency for chili and corn commodities. The plan is that this proposal will be submitted at the High Level Meeting of the Malang City TPID for further discussion regarding its realization. (iu/yon)
