PUTRAJAYA: The 60,000-tonne quota for subsidised cooking oil remains for now, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) said today.
It added that it had no plans to reduce the existing quota to 40,000 tonnes per month.
“This is because the 60,000-tonne quota, which is equivalent to 60 million packs of subsidised cooking oil weighing one kilogramme each, is sufficient if used by households only,” it said in an explanation regarding reports that the quota of subsidised cooking oil may be reduced to 40,000 tonnes a month.
KPDN secretary-general Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof was yesterday reported to have said that he did not rule out the possibility of subsidised cooking oil being reduced to 40,000 tonnes a month through rationalisation due to views that the quota of 60,000 tonnes was too much.
The 60,000-tonne quota for subsidised cooking oil has been in place since 2016 after the KPDN took over the supply of the daily necessity from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.
The KPDN said that although there were frequent incidents of insufficient subsidised cooking oil in certain areas, the ministry found that the situation was influenced by various other factors, including purchases by non-households, the opening of business sectors using cooking oil in their business operations, packaging companies not operating at optimum level and distribution problems. – Bernama
