The Jihad Against Inflation Special Task Force wants a sufficient supply of necessities in states that are expected to be affected by floods during the upcoming monsoon season.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Alexander Nanta Linggi said the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and relevant agencies must ensure this.
Nanta, who chaired the task force meeting in Putrajaya today, said Nadma, the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry, as well as his ministry must ensure there will be no price increase of basic necessities in the flood-affected states.
He said preparations to face the floods were made in line with the announcement by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on activating the District Disaster Management Committees (JPBD) in facing the northeast monsoon.
“These include increasing stocks and the logistical plan for distribution to the flood-affected states such as for ROVR petrol supply, diesel, and so on,” he said.
The northeast monsoon usually brings heavy rain which often results in major floods, especially in the East Coast states.
The Meteorological Department predicted that the northeast monsoon 2022/2023 season will be from November 2022 until March 2023.
Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang are expected to experience heavy rain from this November to December while Johor, Sabah, and Sarawak could experience it from December until January.
Nanta said currently, the price and supply of chicken and eggs in grades A, B, and C were stable.
“There is continuous monitoring at all levels - distribution, wholesale, and retail - to ensure price stability,” he added.
Crude palm oil prices
Meanwhile, Nanta said currently, there is no need for the government to create a buffer stock of crude palm oil (CPO) in view of the world market price being stable currently and according to projections, the price would be down a little this October until December.
He said the government will continue engaging with industry players and the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities over the feasibility of determining two price levels, especially for domestic consumption which constitutes less than seven percent of the country’s CPO output.
He also noted that for the period of July 1 until last Saturday (Sept 10), his ministry’s enforcement teams inspected 345 packaging companies, as well as wholesale (2,203) and retail outlets (25,493) for subsidised cooking oil in polybags.
“From the inspections, 140 cases were recorded, with 52 of these involving misappropriation by wholesalers.
“Preliminary investigations found elements of hoarding of supplies, failure to record in procurement books, and selling subsidised cooking oil to unlicensed individuals or premises,” he said.
On the Keluarga Malaysia Cheap Sales Programme, Nanta said that until last Saturday (Sept 10), the programme had so far been held in 512 state constituencies across the country.
- Bernama
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