PETALING JAYA: Following the recent bottled cooking oil shortage, the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry says special incentives may be given to companies packing the product to ensure sufficient supply.
Its Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the incentives were among the intervention measures decided after a special briefing with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.
“The ministry has been ordered to follow up on this by instructing the companies concerned to continue supplying the product (to the market),” he said in a statement yesterday.
Armizan said the ministry would also be increasing enforcement to ensure there is no hoarding or leakages involving all types of cooking oil.
“We will make sure the directives are implemented to ensure that the companies will produce enough bottled cooking oil to stabilise supplies in the market,” he added.
This comes following reports that local cooking oil supplies were scarce, especially for 1kg and 2kg bottles of local cooking oil, across various parts of Johor.
Checks by The Star at sundry shops and supermarkets in Larkin, Tampoi, Pasir Gudang and Kulai saw empty shelves as retailers say the cooking oil has been out of stock since the beginning of the year.
It was also reported that Ramadan bazaar traders in Johor were forced to visit multiple supermarkets to secure enough supplies of cooking oil.
To this, Armizan explained that the shortage was due to the increasing production cost of crude palm oil (CPO), which has gone up drastically over the past two years.
According to the minister, the average price of CPO in January was RM4,672.50 before increasing to RM4,759 in February.
Following the prolonged effects of high CPO prices, Armizan said bottled cooking oil producers had reduced their production to control costs.
He said this is because they are bound by regulations on enforcement of maximum prices for bottled cooking oil.
“For example, the order mandates the sale of a 5kg bottle at RM30.90 at the retail level, compared to global CPO prices which stand at RM36.16,” he said.
Armizan also expressed the ministry’s appreciation for the Prime Minister and Finance Ministry’s decision to consider providing special incentives to bottled cooking oil producers to ensure stable supplies throughout Ramadan and leading into Syawal.
