Gas Becomes a Rare and Expensive Commodity in the Market, According to Residents

A Kompas Research and Development (Litbang Kompas) poll reveals that several commodities are perceived by the public as frequently scarce and experiencing soaring prices in the market.

Gas was cited as the most difficult item to find and increasingly expensive, by 27.3% of respondents.

The next most scarce and expensive commodities were rice (20.2%), chilies (15.8%), cooking oil (12.8%), and eggs (3%).

Other goods such as meat, sugar, fish, fuel (BBM), shallots, and garlic received less than 2% of responses.

The survey also found that a majority, or 62.9%, of respondents felt that staple food prices had increased over the past six months. Another 23.7% considered them equally expensive.

Conversely, 12.1% of respondents stated that staple food prices remained cheap, and 1.3% felt they had become cheaper.

"The instability of prices and scarcity of staple foods indicate that economic access and supply stability remain fundamental issues for food security," wrote a Kompas Litbang researcher in their report on Monday, April 28, 2025.

The survey involved 535 respondents from 38 provinces, randomly selected according to the population proportion in each province.

Data collection was conducted from March 17-20, 2025, through telephone interviews. The survey's margin of error is approximately 4.25% with a 95% confidence level, under conditions of simple random sampling.