Indonesia's Consumer Prices Rise 0.21% in August 2026 as Chicken Meat Leads the Increase
Badan Pusat Statistik reported monthly inflation of 0.21 percent in August 2026, with the consumer price index moving from 111.73 to 111.97. Broiler chicken meat contributed 0.17 percentage points on its own, followed by bird's-eye chili, fresh fish and rice at 0.02 points each. Annual inflation stood at 3.19 percent, with food, beverages and tobacco running at 3.86 percent.
Indonesia's consumer price index rose 0.21 percent month on month in August 2026, climbing from 111.73 in July to 111.97 in August, Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) reported at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday, 1 September. Annual inflation stood at 3.19 percent, while calendar-year inflation reached 1.86 percent.
Chicken meat drives the monthly increase
Ateng Hartono, BPS Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics, said the food, beverages and tobacco group was the main contributor to monthly inflation, adding 0.17 percentage points with a group inflation rate of 0.57 percent, according to Jawa Pos.
Within that group, the dominant items were:
- broiler chicken meat — 0.17 percentage points
- bird's-eye chili — 0.02 percentage points
- fresh fish — 0.02 percentage points
- rice — 0.02 percentage points
“The commodities that dominated inflation in the food, beverages and tobacco group were broiler chicken meat, with an inflation contribution of 0.17 percent, along with bird's-eye chili, fresh fish and rice, each contributing 0.02 percent,” Hartono said. Chicken alone therefore matches the entire reported contribution of the group, meaning falling prices elsewhere in the food basket offset the other gainers. In market reporting accompanying the release, Jawa Pos put bird's-eye chili at around Rp 65,000 per kilogram at Keputran market.
Volatile foods up, administered prices down
By component, volatile food prices rose 0.88 percent and contributed 0.15 percentage points. Core inflation came in at 0.21 percent with a contribution of 0.13 percentage points. Prices administered by the government fell 0.33 percent, subtracting 0.07 percentage points from the monthly result. The split points to supply-side pressure in fresh food rather than broad demand, while regulated tariffs worked in the opposite direction.
27 provinces with inflation, 11 with deflation
Of Indonesia's 38 provinces, 27 recorded inflation in August and 11 recorded deflation. The highest monthly rates were in the Bangka Belitung Islands and Maluku, both at 0.81 percent, close to four times the national figure. The deepest deflation was in Papua Pegunungan at 1.27 percent. The gap between the two extremes exceeded two percentage points, underlining how uneven food logistics and local supply conditions are across the archipelago.
Annual food inflation runs above the headline
On a yearly basis, BPS identified food, beverages and tobacco as one of three groups driving inflation, with a rate of 3.86 percent and a contribution of 1.13 percentage points, above the national headline of 3.19 percent. The largest annual contributors within the group were broiler chicken meat, fresh fish, cooking oil, rice, machine-made clove cigarettes (SKM), bird's-eye chili, beef, hand-rolled clove cigarettes (SKT), white machine-made cigarettes (SPM) and red chili.
The composition is relevant for policy design: animal protein, rice and cooking oil are the categories Indonesian authorities monitor most closely through buffer stocks, market operations and reference prices, and they sit at the top of both the monthly and the annual lists. Tobacco products, whose retail prices move with excise policy rather than with harvests, account for three of the ten largest annual contributors.
