JAKARTA – The Indonesian Competition Commission (KPPU) suggested the government obliges salt importers to report its usage to avoid a supernormal profit. This phenomenon could occur if industrial salt entered the public market. Yudi Hidayat, a KPPU member, announced this request during a press conference, quoted Thursday (22/4).
It was revealed that the government had decided to import 3 million-tonne industrial salt when the domestic stock was still at 1 million-tonne. On the same occasion, the government issued the Government Regulation (PP) No. 27/2021 concerning the Operation in Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, article 291, which stated that local salt utilisation to fulfil domestic needs should be prioritised over importing activities.
“Currently, industrial salt import uses quota model for each importer. It could lead to salt market domination by particular business owners,” Hidayat added.
The salt import regulation potentially creates a supernormal profit once industrial salt became consumption salt due to its significant price gap between those two commodities. “The unused import salt could potentially enter the public consumption market due to error in import needs estimation,” he said. (LK/ZH)