Call for Indonesian govt to leave cooking oil price to market forces

Experts argued that the Indonesian government has disrupted the market and any positive outcome would not last. - AFP

JAKARTA (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Efforts by Indonesia to curb rising cooking oil prices at home by messing with the free market have disrupted the market and any positive outcome would not last, experts have argued.

What Indonesia needs is simple and straightforward policies that will ensure affordability and availability of cooking oil, said Dr Fadhil Hasan, head of foreign affairs at the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki).