Lower Prices Incur Losses, Merchant Says
20 January 2015 14:16 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo's policy on reducing the price of cement simultaneously with the decreasing price of fuel is claimed to reduce merchants' profits. Chandra Islamis, a cement sales agent in Mojokerto, East Java, said that he had to suffer financial losses because perveiously, he had purchased cement at a high price.
Chandra said that he had purchased 4,000 bags of 40 kilograms cement from a distributor in Surabaya for Rp 52,250 on January 13, 2015. Before President Jokowi decided to lower cement price, Chandra was able to sell one bag of 40 kilograms cement for Rp 60,000. After prices were dropped, he is forced to sell one bag of cement at a price of Rp 57,500.
"I lost Rp 1,750 for each bag," Chandra said on Tuesday, January 20, 2015.
According to Chandra, in addition to losing money, increasing minimum wage has put additional burden on his operational costs. Chandra hoped that the government will issue a policy that regulates a special price for old cement stocks. "We expect old stocks could be sold at old prices," he said.
ISHOMUDDIN
