Indonesia’s antitrust agency (KPPU) has ordered seven cooking oil producers to pay fines of as much as $2.8 million for restricting sales amid tight supplies last yr.
The KPPU launched an investigation last yr into the conduct of cooking oil producers after the Indonesian government imposed a short lived curb on rising retail prices for the staple product and later imposed a three-week ban on palm oil exports.
Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, widely used as cooking oil.
Indonesians convicted of corruption within the palm oil sector
Indonesians convicted of corruption within the palm oil sector
Seven of the 27 corporations under investigation were found guilty of restricting the distribution of their branded cooking oils through the period when the retail price cap was in place in early 2022, said Dinni Melanie, who chaired the KPPU panel.
The seven corporations include Salim Ivomas Pratama, a branch of Indonesia’s largest food company Indofood Group, in addition to two branches of Wilmar Group.
Fines starting from 1 billion rupees ($68,050.36) to 40.9 billion rupees ($2.78 million) were imposed on the businesses.
Wilmar said Saturday it was disillusioned with the choice and believed the KPPU “can have misinterpreted the facts.”
“During the period under review… our cooking oil business specifically and our industry generally were impacted by significant supply chain issues that impacted the provision of cooking oil,” a Wilmar spokesman said.
Salim Ivomas didn’t reply to requests for comment.
All 27 corporations investigated by the KPPU were acquitted on charges of price fixing.
