REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Agriculture Ministry has supplied 58 tons of imported garlic to the Kramat Jati wholesale market in East Jakarta to curb the price of the commodity ahead of the fasting month of Ramadhan.

The garlic, imported from China, was sent to the wholesale market in two container trucks and will be sold at Rp25 thousand per kilogram as compared to the earlier price of Rp60 thousand per kilogram.

"This morning, the price has dropped. We will sell the garlic for Rp25 thousand per kilogram as compared to Rp45 thousand per kilogram previously. This means that the price has fallen by 44 percent. The company that sent the garlic will supply the commodity in at least two container trucks to the wholesale market everyday. Hence, there is no reason for the price of garlic to become volatile," Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman stated here on Wednesday.

During the market operation, the minister was accompanied by Vice Chief of the Indonesian Police Commissioner General Syafruddin, Chief of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police Inspector General Mochammad Iriawan Iriawan, and Director General of Foreign Trade at the Trade Ministry Oke Nurwan

Sulaiman said the Trade Ministry and Agriculture Ministry have agreed that the price of garlic sold to consumers must not exceed Rp38 thousand per kilogram.

In addition, 42 garlic importers have agreed to not sell the commodity at more than Rp38 thousand per kilogram and not hoard the commodity in their warehouses in order to avoid price volatility.