KPPU: Domestic Sugar Price Far Higher than International Price

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) spokesman, Guntur Saragih, stated that his side would legally process every party that deliberately delayed the distribution of sugar in order to get interests.

At present, the price of sugar is relatively high despite imported commodities that have entered markets.

“We see this sugar issue has shifted from the late issuance of import permit letter (SPI) to goods distribution,” said Guntur on Thursday, May 14.

Therefore, the KPPU would increase the monitoring status to an initiative of law enforcement in a bid to focus more on the behavior of producers and distributors in meeting the national needs of sugar.

According to Guntur, compared to data released by the International Sugar Organization, the national price of sugar is 240-260 percent higher in April and May 2020. The international rate is reportedly at US$336.75 per ton or Rp5,000 per kilogram (the exchange rate for the US dollar is Rp14.885, 29).

The high price gap was considered to generate incentives for producers to import sugar instead of increasing production or absorbing domestic production. Guntur added that the import quota was sufficient. But due to the late issuance of the permit letter, only a few permits were realized.

In May 2020, KPPU discovered that the average commodity prices in traditional and modern markets reach 44 percent and 24 percent above the highest retail price (HET) for consumers, respectively.

BISNIS