Survey: Majority of Residents Still Consider Cooking Oil Prices Expensive

Although President Jokowi has banned the export of cooking oil and its raw materials, and the Attorney General's Office has arrested a number of suspected mafia members, cooking oil prices on the market are generally still considered quite expensive.

This is reflected in a report from Indikator's survey entitled *The Cooking Oil Drama and Public Satisfaction with the President*, released on Sunday (15/5/2022).

According to the survey, 53.8% of respondents felt that the current price of cooking oil is unaffordable, while 19% felt that the price is completely unaffordable.

Meanwhile, 23.3% of respondents considered the current price of cooking oil to be affordable, and 1.3% considered it very affordable. Another 2.6% of respondents did not know or did not answer.

According to Indikator's Executive Director Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the export ban and the arrest of cooking oil mafia members have influenced the decrease in cooking oil prices. However, the decrease is not as expected.

"There has actually been a decrease in cooking oil prices, but the decrease is still far below the price desired by the public. Compared to February-March, it was even higher before the Attorney General's Office took steps to eradicate the cooking oil mafia," said Burhanuddin on Sunday (15/5/2022).

Indikator's survey results also revealed that 75% of respondents currently use packaged cooking oil.

Only 20.7% of respondents use bulk cooking oil, whose highest retail price (HET) is set by the government at Rp14,000 per liter.

More than 90% of respondents who use bulk cooking oil still buy it at a price above the HET. Respondents who bought it at or below the HET were only 4.9%.

This survey was conducted from May 5-10, 2022, involving 1,228 respondents. The respondents were aged 17 years and older or married, and owned a telephone or mobile phone.

The sample was taken using the random digit dialing (RDD) method, or a process of randomly generating telephone numbers. The margin of error for this survey is 2.9% with a 92% confidence level.

(Also Read: New Cooking Oil Brands Emerge, These Are the Most Favorite Brands)