Jakarta –
The United States (US) experienced the highest inflation in the last 40 years. The inflation rate in Uncle Sam’s country is recorded to have climbed to the level of 7% in 2021.
It turns out that Indonesians can also be affected by inflation in the US. This will happen in the near future, namely the increase in the price of tofu and tempeh.
The Ministry of Trade revealed that the prices of tofu and tempeh will increase in the next few months. One of the causes is inflation in the US which has reached 7% affecting soybean prices. Impact of inflation, soybean farmers in the US began to raise prices.
“Inflation in America reached 7% which resulted in an increase in the price of production inputs. Not to mention, there is a shortage of labor, rising land costs, and weather uncertainty in producing countries which have caused soybean farmers in America to increase prices,” said Director General of Domestic Trade, Oke Nurwan, in a virtual press conference, Friday (11/2/2022).
On the other hand, Indonesia is currently experiencing a dependence on soybean imports, including in meeting the needs of the well-known processed soybean products, tempeh and tofu.
Chairman of the Association of Tofu Tempe Producers Cooperatives (Gakoptindo) Aip Syarifuddin said so far 90% of the soybean demand for tempe and tofu production at the artisan level was met from imported soybeans.
Because of the large use of imported soybeans as raw materials, if imported soybeans are expensive, the prices of tofu and tempeh are also expensive.
“Of the 3 million tons per year the soybean needs for tofu and tempeh, 90% is imported. Local products are 300-400 thousand tons per year. That’s why we follow global prices, so if it’s expensive, we are expensive,” said Aip to detik.comMonday (14/2/2022).
Also watch the video ‘United States Experiences Highest Inflation in 4 Decades’:
The US is the largest exporter of soybeans to Indonesia. Check the next page.
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