Nationwide checks as price control scheme kicks off

 

Perak consumer affairs exco member Abdul Yunus Jamhari conducting checks on the price of cooking oil sold at a supermarket in Ipoh today. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Keluarga Malaysia Maximum Price Control Scheme (SHMKM) will take effect from today until Dec 31 throughout the country as part of the government’s efforts to stabilise the price of necessities and ensure adequate supply in the market.

The items listed under the scheme include live chicken, standard chicken, super chicken, Grade A, B and C eggs, long beans, red chilli, tomato, choy sum, imported round cabbage (from Indonesia and China) as well as cucumber.

Domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry enforcement director Azman Adam said the scheme’s compliance would involve every stage of the supply chain.

“Twelve items listed in the scheme include three categories of chicken, three grades of chicken eggs, popular vegetables, all of which have the potential to rise in price if controls are not imposed,” he told reporters after conducting an inspection at the Sri Gombak market in Selangor today.

Azman said some 2,200 enforcement officers and 1,000 price monitoring officers would be involved in the price monitoring scheme.

He urged consumers to channel complaints to the ministry so that action could be taken if any price hike beyond the ceiling price occurred.

Meanwhile, the ministry said it issued 166 notices from early January till yesterday to traders in Kelantan who were reportedly selling products at higher prices.

Kelantan director Adnan Abd Rahman said the notices were issued so that traders could provide a reasonable explanation for the prices of items that had resulted in customer complaints.

“From the 166 notices issued, 52 involved chicken traders, 12 were for egg traders and 12 for vegetable sellers,” he told reporters after checks on the first day of enforcement of the price control scheme at the Rural Transformation Centre at Tunjung, Kelantan.

In Melaka, state consumer affairs exco member Ngwe Hee Sem said 100 enforcement officers and personnel would be mobilised at various stages of the supply chain to conduct checks throughout the state for the duration of the scheme.

“Checks will be conducted daily among producers, retailers and traders to ensure no one raises prices for the 12 necessities listed in the SHMKM,” he said, adding that they had received six complaints about high prices of eggs and chicken between Jan 1 and yesterday.

In Perak, state consumer affairs exco member Abdul Yunus Jamhari said compliance was at a good level after checks on the first day of the SHMKM implementation at a supermarket in Ipoh.

“A total of 176 Perak enforcement officers and 79 price monitoring officers will continue to monitor compliance of the scheme throughout the state,” he said. - FMT