The media have also made random surveys of outlets in the city and found consumer complaints to be true.
The Daily Express checked with supermarkets and mini markets in Ranau and found that almost all their shelves were empty of cooking oil The newspaper covered Milimewa, Sabindo, 99Speedmart, and Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, among others.
“Cooking oil packed in big bottles are available,” a consumer, Cik Nong, was quoted as saying in a Borneo Post report from Lahad Datu. “The oil in big bottles is being sold at a high price.”
Many consumers could not afford to buy oil in big bottles, she said. “There has been a shortage of cooking oil in 1kg packets for weeks.”
She hoped the government would look into the shortage and ensure there was sufficient cooking oil in 1kg packets in the district.
Felda produced 700 metric tonnes of cooking oil per month for distribution in Sabah, said Sabah Consumer Affairs and Community Development Minister Jainab Ahmad Ayid on Monday.
She attributed the shortage to consumers indulging in panic buying, besides sabotage and hoarding by traders.
Consumer Beabeanka, 25, told local media that grocery shops and minimarkets in Lahad Datu seemed unable to keep sufficient stocks of cooking oil in smaller packages. “Cooking oil is available only in 10kg bottles,” she said. “I went to all the shops in town.”
The shelves are empty of cooking oil in smaller packages, she said. “Cooking oil in smaller packages is cheaper.”
The commodity retails at RM2.50 per kg plastic pack. The cooking oil in bottles start at RM23 in Lahad Datu.
It’s learnt that there are 26 cooking oil repackers throughout Sabah: Sandakan (16), Tawau (7), Lahad Datu (2) and Kota Kinabalu (1).
District Assistant Consumer Affairs Officer Halimin Siping said he was discussing with the authorities concerned, in Kota Kinabalu, to create a mini stock of cooking oil.
He conceded the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) was at present facing “obstacles” in ensuring the supply of cooking oil to the west coast in particular.
Halimin said that only one supplier, a re-packer at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), was supplying the west coast, the interior and Labuan. The re-packer has a monthly quota of 215 mt.
The problem in controlling supply, he said, was created by small and medium enterprises also using the subsidised cooking oil in packets, although they were not eligible.
Most retailers and certain bulk distributors, he said, are not licensed to trade in controlled goods.