The Director General of Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) Oke Nurwan emphasized that the government guarantees that the current stock of soybeans is sufficient and safe to meet national needs, especially for the production of tofu and tempeh craftsmen. Okay, this is confirmed even though there is an increase in world soybean prices. "The Ministry of Trade together with all national soybean business actors ensures that soybean prices remain affordable and soybean stocks are sufficient to meet the needs of the national tofu and tempeh craftsman industry, even though world soybean prices are still quite high," said Oke in a press release, Wednesday, January 19, 2022. Oke explained that the current increase in soybean prices was allegedly the impact of extreme weather in soybean-producing countries, such as Argentina and Brazil. In addition, there was also a rush to buy soybeans from the United States by China after Hurricane Ida ended. "We hope that the increase in soybean prices due to this extreme weather will not last long. This is given the potential for an increase in world soybean production compared to previous years," continued Oke.
Based on data from the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the world soybean price in the second week of January 2022 was around USD13.77 per bushels or equivalent to USD505 per tonne, up from the conditions in the first week of January 2022, which was USD13.15 per bushels or equivalent to USD483 per tonne. Thus, the landed price is estimated to be in the range of IDR 8,500 per kilogram and the price at the importer level is estimated at IDR 9,300 per kilogram. According to information from the Indonesian Soybean Association (Akindo), the current stock of soybeans at the Akindo member importer level is around 400 thousand tons, consisting of 150 thousand tons in early January 2022 and 250 thousand tons to enter in mid-January 2022. This amount is sufficient to meet the needs of the next two months. According to Oke, the Ministry of Trade will periodically monitor and evaluate the movement of world soybean prices. This was done to ensure the stability of soybean prices at the level of the tofu and tempeh craftsmen, as well as price stability in the people's market. "We urge soybean importers to jointly keep soybean prices affordable for industrial users, especially tofu and tempeh craftsmen. So that people can still get soybean-derived products at affordable prices," concluded Oke.
