PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians should continue supporting local products as the industry has the potential to grow , said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
“During the recent Cabinet meeting, it was agreed that more support should be given to locally made products.
“The ministry has received an allocation of RM20 million this year, and we will organise more campaigns to promote local products.
“Last year, we had an allocation of RM3 million only,” he told the New Straits Times in an interview at his office.
In support of local products to be made available across the country, he said the ministry had introduced a 30 per cent policy to both local and international hypermarkets to sell local products.
“We have a 30 per cent policy imposed on international hypermarkets such as Aeon, Tesco and Giant, as well as locally owned ones.
“Currently, there is no hypermarket that has achieved 30 per cent local products due to their own house requirements but the companies have been supportive of local products.
“This would also benefit the 174 small and medium entrepreneurs, a majority of whom are Bumiputera Muslims.
“I know some of the local brands like Kopi Hang Tuah and Sos Mudim, and these products have achieved big sales in the international supermarkets,” he said.
Saifuddin said local companies could be successful as long as they adhered to requirements set by the respective ministries.
“We want to focus on local products no matter who makes them, as long as they are made well, have quality, and have passed all the requirements by the health ministry, are priced reasonably and, if necessary, obtain halal status,” he said.
Saiffudin also touched on the possibility of a price hike on products following a boycott campaign started by Muslim non-governmental organisations (NGOs) recently.
He said the Consumer Economic Shop Initiative (i-Keep) which was recently launched was able to sell reasonably priced essential items.
“If you say cooking oil price has increased, i-Keep has managed to sell it at RM16 per kilogramme.
“This will be the same at all 350 i-Keep shops and if there is a huge demand, then the price can be lowered,” he said.