Cooking oil flies off the shelves
Subsidy removal statement a shock to many
GEORGE TOWN: Cooking oil subsidies have not been removed yet but some effects of the decision are already being seen.
Bottles and packets of subsidised cooking oil, for one, flew off the shelves at supermarkets here.
The public snapped up the items in many places following the announcement that prices would increase next month due to the removal of the subsidies.
Sunshine Wholesale Mart general manager Yee Kam Ming said there was an especially huge demand for the 5kg bottle of cooking oil yesterday at Sunshine Square in Bayan Baru.
“By noon, most of it was gone. We have ordered more from our suppliers. Hopefully, we will be able to stock up by next week,” he said.
A check at another supermarket showed shelves almost empty of cooking oil.
Char koay teow seller Yeoh Tin Pong, 63, does not plan to increase the price of her hawker fare.
She said she was selling it at RM4.50 to RM5.50 per plate, which was sufficient to cover the increase in the price of the oil.
It was reported yesterday that the subsidies for all but two sizes of cooking oil packages will be removed from Nov 1.
Unaffected until the end of the year are the 1kg polybag and 5kg bottle. Into the new year, only the price of the 1kg package will still be subsidised.
All other sizes, such as 500g, 1kg, 2kg, and 3kg bottles, will no longer be subsidised by the Government.
“All retail prices of blended cooking oil in various packing sizes will also no longer be subsidised,” the Malayan Edible Oil Manufacturers’ Association said in a statement on Wednesday.
The retail ceiling price for the 1kg polybag and 5kg bottle will be revised upwards – from RM2.50 to RM2.90 for the polybag and from RM13.35 to RM15.25 for the bottle.
In Johor Baru, a check by The Star showed that although there were a number of consumers buying two to three bottles at a go, there was still ample supply in hypermarkets and supermarkets.
School canteen operator B. Rosandra, 23, said she was forced to go to a few outlets because some shops were limiting sales to two bottles per customer.
“I need about five kilos of oil to prepare food for pupils in a Tamil school. Removing the subsidies is definitely going to affect the children who buy food in the canteen,” she said.
She also expected cooked food to be costlier from next year.
Customer service officer C. Kanaraj, 35, was worried that the sudden announcement would affect cooking oil supplies, especially during the Deepavali season.
“The festival is just next week and with the news out, imagine how everyone will be competing to buy cooking oil,” he said.
Johor Consumers Movement Association chairman Abdul Majid Kayat urged the public to take the issue in a positive light by reducing their use of oil in daily cooking.
In Ipoh, consumers were more concerned with the imminent price increase of eating out.
Retiree Ng Ming Hong, 60, who usually buys the 5kg oil bottle for home use once every few months, said the increase of RM1.90 to the bottle’s ceiling price for the rest of the year was still acceptable to her.
But Ng, who cooks for seven every day, said that she was worried prices of food would be more expensive if she buys lunch outside.
“Traders will definitely feel the pinch and this is when they will pass the buck to their customers,” she said.