No images? Click here Indonesia's never ending cooking oil crisisSoutheast Asia's largest economy has been facing a cooking oil crisis since December last year. A significant decrease in the global production of palm oil (the major ingredient of cooking oil) due to various reasons from the weather to the Ukraine and Russian war, has led to a shortage and sharp increase in prices. Local palm oil producers in Indonesia have decided to sell their products to foreign markets to take advantage of high prices, instead of selling them to local markets. So, even though Indonesia is one of the world's major crude palm oil producers, it's difficult to find cooking oil in the local market. If they are available, they come with a big tag price. The government has issued a number of regulations to resolve the crisis, including banning the crude palm oil export. But nothing seems to work. The price of cooking oil in the market is still high – almost double compared to the regular price before the crisis. Recently, the government announced a policy enforcing a new distribution chain involving small distributors. The new distribution system is expected to ensure that consumers can get cooking oil at normal price. The Conversation Indonesia has published a number of articles discussing this cooking oil enigma on our website but we welcome any pitch from experts and analysts who can write on this topic. Send your pitches here.
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