'It's like gold now': Indonesian food vendors feel the pinch of cooking oil shortage

Jakarta food vendor Sumarno raising the price of snacks he sells amid shortage of oil supply and higher prices. - ST PHOTO: LINDA YULISMAN

JAKARTA, Feb 13 (The Straits Times/ANN): For a few months, Jakarta fried snack vendor Sumarno had struggled to secure cooking oil.

Sometimes he went around to convenience stores, only to find empty shelves. When lucky, he could get the oil at 20,000 rupiah (S$1.87) per litre, 43 per cent more expensive than usual.