TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chief of the Jakarta Metro Police (Polda Metro Jaya), Inspector General Nana Sudjana, has asked Jakarta residents to avoid panic buying over fears that food supply will be scarce and prices will skyrocket due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Nana Sudjana has reassured the availability of staple foods in several markets to still be sufficient, even until Eid Al Fitr later in the year.

"Until now, food availability still has more than enough stock. So the Jakarta citizens should not be anxious about the issues (of food shortage) circulating," Nana said in Palmerah Market, West Jakarta, on Friday, March 20, 2020.

The only staple whose price has skyrocketed due to scarcity has only been sugar, partly due to the import ban from China following the COVID-19 outbreak. Aside from this, Nana suspected that the increase in price has been caused by third party interventions as well as hoarding individuals.

"The food supply task force will make an effort in investigating the scarcity of sugar, possibly because there is hoarding or something else," Nana said.

One of the efforts done by the Jakarta Metro Police to control the market price of food supplies is to conduct market operations with the Jakarta State Logistics Agency (Bulog), such as the one in Palmerah Market.

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH | DIO SUHENDA (Intern Translator)