FLUKTUASI HARGA BAHAN PANGAN POKOK (BAPOK) DAN DAYA BELI KELOMPOK MASYARAKAT BERPENDAPATAN RENDAH

Prices of staple foods have been increasing for last three years and estimated to continue to rise. The prices have grown 5-12% annually during the period of 1999-2011. In particular, prices of rice, sugar and chicken meat were also considerably fluctuated with Coefficient of Variation (CV) of 13.7%, 10,0% and 9.1%, respectively. Additionally, import parity analysis shows that discrepancies between domestic retail price of rice and wheat flour and their import parity reached 20,0% and 59.4%, respectively. This indicates that consumers receive higher prices than they should have due to inefficiency in production process, distribution and less competitive market structure. Nonetheless, the price hikes are not fully compensated by wage increase of low-income groups. In the period of 2009 food crisis, their purchasing power declined by 1–5%. During the period, purchasing power of labors in agriculture and construction sector was declining by 5% and 3% respectively. Purchasing power of labors in manufacturing sector has even started declining since 2005.