Indonesian police take lead in monitoring cooking oil supplies
27/03/2022 (New Straits Times) - THE INDONESIAN police will take the lead in monitoring the supply of cooking oil, to ensure the commodity remains adequate for consumers ahead of Ramadan.
Indonesian police chief, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, said he has instructed regional police chiefs and officers to conduct daily monitoring of bulk cooking oil stocks, according to the Antara news agency.
"Regional police chiefs and respective task forces will conduct daily monitoring at other places. They must notify cooking oil distributors to replenish stocks if the cooking oil stocks depleted in one place," Prabowo said in a statement issued on Saturday.
The role taken by the police was to assure citizens, consumers particularly, knows that the current bulk cooking oil stocks were sufficient and the price was consistent with the highest retail price set by the government, he said.
"We will continue to check all aspects to ensure that distribution activities run smoothly. We will continue the monitoring, and we hope cooking oil stocks would be sufficient and the highest retail price regulation is observed in markets during the Ramadan period," he added.
Over the weekend Prabowo had visited cooking oil producer PT Smart in Surabaya in East Java to monitor the price and stock conditions of cooking oil.
He said PT Smart had given its assurance of its capability to produce a total of 250 tons of cooking oil to ensure sufficient cooking oil supply in East Java.
"From our discussion, the producer also expressed readiness to rev up the bulk cooking oil production, and we will communicate the matter with the Ministry of Industry for additional allotment," Prabowo said.
He had also visited several local distributors assigned by PT Smart to distribute cooking oil packages to East Java's regions and Wonokromo Market in Surabaya to monitor cooking oil stocks and prices.