Food vendors stock up for end of Ramadhan in I'nesia
Food vendors have already begun stocking up on ingredients and increased production ahead of the Ramadhan fasting month as they expect to see rising ingredient costs.
Dewi Muchtar, a rendang (curried beef) maker, said she already had 100 kilograms of beef stored in her refrigerator as she was sure beef prices would increase ahead of Idul Fitri – the breaking of the fast – in August.
“In my experience, it is better to store fresh meat and start cooking a month prior to the fasting month. That way, I will not be in a rush to fulfil orders and can avoid any cost fluctuations,” she said.
Her storage strategy, she said, enabled her to maintain the price of her product at 200,000 rupiah (Bt620) per kilo during the fasting month.
Using two wood-burning stoves fired up for 12 hours, Dewi can produce 30 kilos of rendang a day. Dewi hopes to repeat last year’s success of selling 300 kilograms of rendang during Ramadhan.
Meanwhile, Musa Jahja, the owner of Puspa Sari Cookies company, has stocked-up on butter, milk, chocolate and sugar before the start of the fasting month.
“The only ingredients we can’t store are eggs and flour,” he said.
The company, he said, had gradually increased daily production this week as it was expecting orders from Singapore and cities outside Java.
His 43-year-old firm usually produces 100 containers of cookies daily, but it will enlarge its production capacity to 2,000 containers of cookies per day during the fasting month to meet demand.
