Rahmah Sale: Imported rice to be sold at subsidised rates

KUALA LUMPUR: The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry will offer imported rice at subsidised prices through the Rahmah Sale initiative.

Its acting minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali stated that this is aimed at increasing sales and supply of rice during the event.

"We are also exploring the idea of offering imported rice at subsidised rates to lower the prices so that we do not solely depend on local rice.

"During the Rahmah Sale programme, we will increase the supply of rice at subsidised rates, which means we will add to the rice supply every time it is conducted," he said at a media conference after visiting two supermarkets in Selayang, here on Tuesday (Sept 19).

Since August, the ministry has been holding the Rahmah Sale programme twice a month at 640 state constituencies nationwide.

Previously the initiative was implemented once a month in state constituencies and twice a month in parliamentary constituencies across the country.

On Ops Jamin, Armizan said between July 7 and Sept 18, a total of 6,141 inspections were conducted nationwide on various distribution chains.

He said 175 complaints about prices, supply and rice-related issues were received by the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry throughout the same period.

"Based on the monitoring, the highest average price for imported white rice in the peninsula is RM40.65, while the highest average price in Sarawak is RM39.21, Sabah RM37.09 and Labuan RM37.83.

Op Jamin was launched to check rice label tampering offences following the new price adjustments involving imported white rice.– Bernama