Jakarta – The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) will extend its investigation into the sharp price drop of chicken at the farming level, which according to farmers is lower than production cost.
"There were a number of considerations, particularly the difference in price between live chicken and its meat," said KPPU commissioner Guntur Syahputra Saragih on Monday as quoted by tempo.co.
The price drop has triggered protests in East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta. Farmers in Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surakarta gave away live chickens on June 26 in protest.
Guntur said the farmers were strongly hit by the price drop.
"The price of chicken at the farming level went from Rp 8,000 (57 US cents) to Rp 10,000 per kilogram," he said, adding that while the price of chicken at markets went from Rp 30,000 to Rp 40,000, adding that there were irregularities in the supply chain.
He suspected middlemen had gained a high profit margin from the commodity.
Previously, the Agriculture Ministry's livestock and animal health director general, I Ketut Diarmita, also suspected middlemen were involved in the price drop.
He said the Agriculture Ministry would list the middlemen and distributors of the commodity so that the ministry could prevent regulation violations that could trigger further losses among chicken farmers.(bbn)