Papuans in Jayapura Must Pay Up to Rp120,000 for Birds' Eye Chili Peppers

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - For the past few weeks, the price of birds-eye chili pepper, or cabe rawit, at Hamadi Market in Jayapura, Papua City, has been between Rp100,000 and Rp120,000 per kilogram. This is extremely high compared to the average price in Jakarta, which was between Rp40,000 and Rp70,000 per kilo as of June 18.

"It has been more than two weeks that the price of cabe rawit has remained at Rp100,000 to Rp120,000 per kilogram. It's because the supply from Arso, Keerom Regency and Koya, Jayapura City is limited," said one of the traders at Pasar Hamadi, Fatimah, in Jayapura on Tuesday.

Aside from the high price of cabe rawit, the price of cayenne pepper also reached Rp100,000 per kilogram and big red chili at Rp110,000 per kilogram.

"The high price of chili peppers is due to the lack of supply from outside the island such as Makassar," Fatimah said, adding that the price will drop once there is supply from outside because the prices from wholesalers are already high.

Fatimah added that the price of tomatoes had also risen to Rp80,000 per kilogram. After the supply from Makassar, the price dropped to Rp25,000 per kilogram.

Separately, Baji Idrus Baka, section chief for domestic trade at the Papua Industry, Trade, Cooperatives and SMEs Office, admitted that there were no reports of traders supplying cayenne pepper from Makassar. Currently, traders only supply tomatoes from Makassar.

While the price of chili peppers is skyrocketing, other agricultural products are relatively stable, Baji Idrus Baka said. These include the price of shallots, which averages Rp50,000 per kilogram between the islands, garlic at Rp50,000 per kilogram, beans at Rp35,000 per kilogram, and carrots at Rp30,000 per kilogram.

ANTARA

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