KUALA LUMPUR: Domestic retail sugar prices will likely to be maintained despite the downtrend in global sugar prices, says MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd (MSM) president and group chief executive officer Datuk Sheikh Awab Sheikh Abod.
Sheikh Awab said although the global raw sugar price is getting lower, transactions done by MSM are in US dollar, so it balances out the final retail sugar price.
"However, if the US dollar strengthens further, the government may have to consider raising the sugar ceiling price," Sheikh Awab told reporters at MSM’s fourth quarter results briefing.
The current domestic selling price of sugar is at RM2.85 per kilogramme after the government withdrew the sugar subsidy last year.
The move had resulted in the sugar price rising to RM2,680 per tonne from RM2,340 per tonne.
Malaysia is the third country in the world selling cheap domestic sugar after Thailand and Vietnam, which produces its own sugar.
MSM's share of the domestic sugar market rose to 64 per cent during the fourth quarter, from 57 per cent in previous corresponding quarter.