Ministry monitoring prices ahead of Harvest Festival
KOTA KINABALU: Officers of the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) Sabah are inspecting the prices of essential food items in conjunction with the upcoming Harvest Festival celebration.
According to KPDNKK Sabah enforcement chief Ravichandran A/L Vadivellu, the supply of essential goods at the wholesale and retail levels were sufficient to meet the demand of the Harvest Festival.
He also stressed that traders who increased the prices of their goods unreasonably will have action taken against them under the Price Control and AntiProfiteering Act 2011.
“KPDNKK Sabah is warning all businesses to obey the existing laws and regulations to avoid stern action against them, including taking errant traders to court,” said Ravichandran in a statement issued by the ministry’s officers during their inspection at the Kota Kinabalu central market yesterday.
He said enforcement officers were also collecting the prices of goods with Goods and Services Tax (GST) for comparison when the tax rate is reduced from six to zero per cent starting June 1 this year.
In the meantime, Ravichandran said KPDKK Sabah would be carrying out inspections to ensure traders do not raise prices during the Harvest Festival celebrations on May 30 and 31.
Although the ministry has yet to receive any complaints of sudden price increases during the festive season, he said KPDKK Sabah was taking proactive action in monitoring the traders.
“We do not wish to see businesses take advantage of the Harvest Festival season to raise the price of their products.
“Inspection will be conducted daily by enforcement officers and price monitoring officers in all districts of Sabah,” said Ravichandran.
Also present at the inspection yesterday were KPDNKK Sabah Pricing Unit chief Awang Azri Biahi and Operations Unit officer Nukley Ajik.
Ravichandran revealed that KPDNKK Sabah had inspected 10,896 premises and recorded 216 cases with total seizures amounting to about RM3,027,775 to date.
The ministry had also issued RM 215,650 worth of compounds to errant traders and brought 10 cases to court, whereby the offenders were fined a total of RM406,928 under various acts, he said.
Meanwhile, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry (KPDNKK) in Lahad Datu on Saturday launched the anti-profiteering operation (Ops Catut) in conjunction with Harvest Festival.
Its branch head, Rino Hisham Abu Bakar when contacted yesterday said the operation was conducted at Pasar Rakyat areas by an enforcement team.
Rino said during the operation, 100 open premises and 30 permanent premises were inspected.
“The operation was launched in conjunction with the Harvest Festival to ensure there are no price increase.
“This proactive measure also aims to ensure the supply of essential items are adequate during the festive season,” he added.
In the meantime, Rino said the ministry is collecting prices of goods which include the GST for comparison on June 1.
He added that this is in line with government’s announcement to have zero rated GST effective June 1.