Cooking oil price hike unreasonable, says MP after minister calls it fair

 

Kulim Bandar Baharu MP Saifuddin Nasution Ismail disagreed with Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali's assessment that the rise in cooking oil prices was reasonable.

Saifuddin (above) called on the government to take immediate action on the matter.

“The price which increased more than 100 percent compared to December 2019 is unreasonable,” he said in a statement today.

The former domestic trade and consumer affairs minister offered several suggestions to tackle the price hikes which will lessen the people’s burden.

One of them, he said, is for the government to introduce two-tiered pricing for palm oil, where it can sell at market prices for export purposes, but at a lower cost for domestic sales.

“In this way, local cooking oil prices can become cheaper than they are now.

“This can reduce not only the price of unsubsidised cooking oil but also the subsidy that the government is shouldering,” he added.

Yesterday, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Deputy Minister Rosol Wahid said the price hike of cooking oil is influenced by the price of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) in plantations.

The price of oil palm FFB was reported to have increased to RM1,000 per ton, from RM300 per ton.

Khairuddin claimed that increased prices profited 3 million poor individuals from settler families and small oil palm farmers.

“The effect of oil palm prices on M40 and T20 groups, who are wealthy but took advantage of the sweat and blood of small farmers, have long been ignored,” the Kuala Nerus MP said in a statement yesterday.

Saifuddin also suggested that the government provide subsidies for all cooking oil supplies or implement such subsidies as a one-off offer if the government faced financial constraints.

“This will lower the prices of cooking oil immediately to a level where the people as consumers won’t feel burdened.

“My third suggestion is for the government to use the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act by introducing a ceiling price that will stop the cooking oil prices from increasing further.

“This will immediately alleviate the people’s burden,” the PKR secretary-general added. - Mkini