Govt approves RM38mil annual allocation to ship white sugar to East Malaysia

 

Domestic trade and cost of living minister Armizan Mohd Ali said Malaysia has imported sugar from Thailand and Brazil after the closure of the sugar refinery in Perlis. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

The government has approved an allocation of RM38 million a year to cover the cost of shipping refined white sugar from the peninsula to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

Domestic trade and cost of living minister Armizan Mohd Ali said a recent Cabinet meeting agreed with his ministry’s recommendation to increase the transportation cost from 10 sen per packet to 20 sen starting next month.

“I am grateful to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for increasing the transport cost allocation from RM19 million to RM38 million,” Bernama reported him as saying in Papar, Sabah, today.

Armizan, who is also the Papar MP, said the Cabinet had agreed to create 1,000 metric tonnes of buffer stock for sugar in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

He said discussions would be held with two local sugar manufacturing companies – MSM Malaysia Holdings Berhad and Central Sugars Refinery Sdn Bhd.

“The federal government has also allocated a one-off payment of RM1 million for the buffer stock with each company as they will suffer losses,” he said, adding that the country has imported sugar from Thailand and Brazil after the closure of the sugar refinery in Perlis. - FMT