KPDN Maintains 60,000-tonne Quota For Subsidised Cooking Oil

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) has maintained the quota of 60,000 tonnes of subsidised packaged cooking oil per month in the market.

Deputy Minister Dr Fuziah Salleh said this decision was made after data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia in 2022 showed that the monthly usage of packaged cooking oil for 80 per cent of the 7.9 million households was 30.3 million tonnes, while the micro-industry sector used 21,280 tonnes per month.

"Sixty thousand tonnes of packaged cooking oil is sufficient for us to distribute to households and the micro-industry sector," she said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

She was replying to a question from Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah) regarding the amount of subsidy spent on the implementation of the Cooking Oil Price Stabilisation Scheme (eCOss) in 2024, and whether KPDN was prepared to increase the 60,000-tonne quota of subsidised packaged cooking oil in the retail market.

She added that the government has spent RM1.945 billion on the cooking oil price stabilisation scheme, with RM845 million allocated in Budget 2024 and RM1.1 billion allocated in a supplementary bill.

Fuziah also said that KPDN is negotiating, in collaboration with relevant agencies, to develop a pilot project this year to allow consumers to purchase packaged cooking oil using an ID system.

"This system will be implemented to identify eligible Malaysian citizens who can access the supply, as well as to reduce issues of leakage," she said, responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Dr Zulkafperi Hanapi (PN-Tanjong Karang), who asked if KPDN was prepared to provide cooking oil subsidies directly through MyKad.

Fuziah added that KPDN suspended the quotas for 16 subsidised cooking oil packaging companies and revoked the quotas for 30 other packaging companies in 2024 due to various violations and breaches of the quota holder's conditions.

-- BERNAMA