The analysis of food and nonfood consumption patterns in Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the largest countries in the world populationwise; it is the fifth most populated. Geographically, it consists of 5 large islands, Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya, and thousands of small islands. Culturally, these islands vary quite significantly. In some cases, regions within an island differ significantly as well. Resource availability among regions and consequently among islands vary considerably. Hence, income differences are expected to exist among islands as well as among regions;Patterns of consumption among regions are expected to be different for the reasons described above. The question is, however, which of the two factors, culture or income level, will play a dominant role in determining the consumption patterns. If culture, i.e., tastes and preferences, is the main determinant, then there is a very small chance that patterns of consumption among regions will be similar, regardless of income level. On the other hand, if income level has significant effects, then it would be reasonable to expect similar patterns for the same income levels among regions;Income elasticities at urban, rural, province, and across income levels for the 10 provinces studied strongly suggest grouping of consumed items into three groups. The first group consists of items that are consumed more at an increasing rate as income increases; the second group consists of items that are consumed at a relatively constant rate as income increases; and the third group consists of items that are consumed less as income increases. The first group consists of items such as meat, fresh fish, dairy products, etc., and almost all nonfood; the second group consists of items such as rice, vegetables, sugar, fuel, etc; and the third group consists of items such as dried fish, cassava, etc. Items constituting these groups, however, vary from province to province and from one income level to another;The 10 provinces studied are North Sumatra, South Sumatra, West Java, Jogyakarta, East Nusatenggara, West Kalimanatan, East Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, and Maluku.