Business Times 7 Jan 08;
(KUALA LUMPUR) Malaysian cooking oil will be rationed starting today to counter a supply shortage caused by smuggling and panic buying amid fears of a price hike, a government official said.
Consumers will be allowed to buy only up to five kilograms of cooking oil at any one time, said Hoo Seong Chang, parliamentary secretary of the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry.
Supermarkets and retail stores nationwide have been told to enforce the rationing, he told The Associated Press yesterday.
'It's a temporary measure to alleviate the shortage. It will help to prevent panic buying,' he said.
'We can't control 100 per cent but at least people cannot buy more than five kilograms at any one time.'
The government is also asking cooking oil manufacturers to raise production, and is urging consumers to cooperate to ensure that the shortage is resolved quickly, Mr Hoo said.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said panic buying and hoarding had created an 'artificial shortage' of cooking oil, prompting the rationing, but that there was plenty of oil for everyone, The Sunday Star newspaper reported.
'There is enough supply but the situation is due to an extraordinary demand,' Mr Najib was quoted as saying.
A Najib aide who declined to be named citing ministry policy confirmed his comments but could not give further details.
The customs department has been told to step up checks along the border with Thailand following reports that cooking oil was being smuggled into that country, newspapers reported yesterday.
The Sunday Star said news of the rationing had sparked a renewed rush to buy cooking oil nationwide. -- AP
Rationing of cooking oil in Malaysia begins today
Straits Times 7 Jan 08;
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA begins rationing cooking oil today with each buyer allowed to purchase only 5kg as the government imposes restrictions to curb a shortage blamed on smuggling and panic-buying triggered by price-hike rumours.
But some retailers had begun to ration cooking oil purchases over the weekend, said the official Bernama news agency.
The parliamentary opposition slammed the rationing measure, which it said was harming restaurants, consumers and vendors and was proof of the government's failure to provide the basic needs of the people.
'The nationwide cooking oil shortage which plagued the country is not something new, as previously we faced similar shortages in diesel, sugar and flour supply,' the opposition Democratic Action Party said.
'The government should be ashamed...it is a great irony that we are short of cooking oil even though we are the largest palm oil producer and exporter in the world.'
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shafie Apdal, who announced the restrictions last Friday, blamed the crisis on smugglers who cash in on subsidised Malaysian oil by moving it to neighbouring countries.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
