PUTRAJAYA: Poor demand for the one-litre subsidised bottled cooking oil may force the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry to cease its production, said its Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
“We’ve assigned three companies to repack it. But they say response has not been good,” Hamzah told a press conference after presenting the Outstanding Service Awards to 277 of his officers this afternoon. “The consumers still prefer to buy the 1kg cooking oil in plastic packet because it’s cheaper.”
A quick check by NST Online in 99 Speedmart revealed that Felda Global Ventures (FGV) is among the three companies assigned to repack the cooking oil into a one-litre bottle.
The price of the one-litre cooking oil is fixed at RM2.95 per bottle as compare to RM2.50 per pack for the subsidised cooking oil in poly bags.
“But we’re going to give it another try for one or two months,” said Hamzah. “If demand is still bad, we’ll just stick to the poly bags.”
On the recent shortage of cooking oil in Sabah, Hamzah assured that his ministry has resolved the issues with 103 tonnes of non-subsidised cooking oil being sent to Sabah and distributed to retail outlets around the state.
“The prime minister asked me about this. So I told him that my officers in Sabah have personally transported the cooking oil in lorries themselves,” he said.
Hamzah has previously announced in November last year that subsidised one-litre bottled cooking oil would be introduced in the near future to provide more variety and choice of subsidised cooking oil which is currently produced in 1kg plastic packets to consumers.
A full research was done to determine the price mechanism. It was expected that the price of the new 1kg bottled cooking oil will be slightly more as the packaging cost of cooking oil in plastic packets is not more than 10 sen while bottled cooking oil will cost more than 40 sen each.