Indonesian staple food prices rise on 12 August: rice, cooking oil and sugar up, green chili plunges
Bank Indonesia's PIHPS food price monitor recorded higher prices for rice, cooking oil, sugar, eggs and chicken in traditional markets on Wednesday, 12 August. Rice rose in five of six quality grades, while branded packaged cooking oil jumped as much as Rp2,000 per litre. Green bird's eye chili was the day's sharpest faller, down Rp12,200 to Rp40,150 per kg.
Prices for most staple foods in Indonesia's traditional markets rose on Wednesday, 12 August, according to the National Strategic Food Price Information Centre (PIHPS) maintained by Bank Indonesia. VIVA, which published the daily price table, reported increases for rice, cooking oil, sugar, eggs and chicken meat, while suara.com highlighted green bird's eye chili as the day's sharpest decline.
Rice climbs across almost every grade
Rice rose in five of the six quality categories tracked by PIHPS, and the largest gains came at the cheaper end of the market, where buyers are most price-sensitive. The full set of quotations reported by VIVA:
- Low quality I: up Rp800 to Rp15,600 per kg
- Low quality II: up Rp750 to Rp15,350 per kg
- Medium I: up Rp500 to Rp16,950 per kg
- Medium II: down Rp50 to Rp16,200 per kg
- Super I: up Rp250 to Rp17,950 per kg
- Super II: up Rp300 to Rp17,500 per kg
Cooking oil posts the day's largest gains
Cooking oil recorded the biggest absolute moves in the table. Branded packaged cooking oil I rose Rp2,000 to Rp26,300 per litre, and branded packaged cooking oil II added Rp1,800 to Rp25,200 per litre. Bulk cooking oil, the cheapest format and the one most commonly sold in wet markets, gained Rp750 to Rp21,200 per litre. Indonesia is a major palm oil producer, which makes retail cooking oil quotations one of the most closely watched lines in the national price monitor.
Sugar moved in the same direction. Premium granulated sugar rose Rp1,200 to Rp21,550 per kg, while local sugar edged up Rp100 to Rp19,200 per kg. Together with rice and cooking oil, sugar completes a group of basic pantry goods that all repriced upward in the same session.
Chili splits sharply between varieties
Chili was the most volatile group in the survey. Green bird's eye chili fell Rp12,200 to Rp40,150 per kg, the largest single decline of the day. Red bird's eye chili moved in the opposite direction, rising Rp4,400 to Rp63,950 per kg. Curly red chili gained Rp2,400 to Rp53,050 per kg and large red chili added Rp400 to Rp50,050 per kg.
The divergence leaves red bird's eye chili about Rp23,800 per kg above the green variety, an unusually wide gap between two grades of the same crop. Chili is a fast-rotating horticultural product with a short shelf life, so localised harvest arrivals can pull one variety down while another tightens on the same trading day.
Poultry, beef and aromatics
Animal protein was mostly higher. Fresh chicken meat rose Rp1,000 to Rp41,050 per kg and chicken eggs gained Rp150 to Rp29,650 per kg. Both items are directly exposed to feed costs and to the same distribution networks that supply traditional markets, and both are staples in lower-income household diets.
Beef diverged by grade. Quality I beef fell Rp1,400 to Rp149,750 per kg, while quality II beef rose Rp1,600 to Rp143,750 per kg, narrowing the spread between the two grades to Rp6,000 per kg.
Among aromatics, medium-size shallots fell Rp2,150 to Rp42,050 per kg, the second-largest decline recorded on the day, while medium-size garlic rose Rp150 to Rp41,300 per kg. Taken together, the PIHPS readings show upward pressure concentrated in the highest-volume items of the Indonesian food basket, with the declines confined to two horticultural lines that are structurally volatile. For processors, importers and retail buyers, the composition of the move matters more than its size: rice, cooking oil and sugar carry far greater weight in household spending than chili or shallots.
