Indonesia’s antitrust body fines cooking oil firms for restricting supply
- 7 out of 27 companies were found guilty of limiting distribution of their branded cooking oils while a retail price cap was in place in early 2022
- Following the investigation by the anti-monopoly agency, the companies were ordered to pay fines ranging from US$68,000 to US$2.8 million
Indonesia’s anti-monopoly agency (KPPU) ordered seven cooking oil companies to pay fines of up to US$2.8 million for restricting sales amid scarce supplies last year.
KPPU launched an investigation into the conduct of cooking oil companies last year after the Indonesian government placed a temporary cap on surging retail prices of the essential product and later a three-week export ban on palm oil.
Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, commonly used as cooking oil.
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Seven out of 27 companies investigated were found guilty of limiting distribution of their branded cooking oils while the retail price cap was in place in early 2022, said Dinni Melanie, who chaired the KPPU panel.
The seven companies include Salim Ivomas Pratama, a unit of Indonesia’s largest food company Indofood Group, as well as two units of Wilmar Group.
The companies were ordered to pay fines ranging from 1 billion rupiah (US$68,050.36) to 40.9 billion rupiah (US$2.78 million).
Wilmar said on Saturday it was disappointed with the decision and believed the facts “may have been misconstrued” by KPPU.
“During the relevant period … our cooking oil operations specifically, and our industry generally, were affected by severe supply chain issues that had an impact on cooking oil delivery,” Wilmar’s spokesperson said.
Salim Ivomas did not respond to requests for comment.
All 27 companies that KPPU investigated were acquitted on charges of price fixing.
