Facemask prices now controlled

KUALA LUMPUR: Facemask prices are now controlled at 7 sen each for 1ply, 20 sen each for 2ply, 80 sen each for 3ply and RM6 each for N95, with immediate effect, said Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said the prices approved during the cabinet meeting Wednesday ensured fair prices for the masks for consumers, retailers and wholesalers.
He said the prices were set after studying in detail the production cost for surgical masks and they would ensure that both retailers and wholesalers still made “fair profits” at the listed prices.
“The government would have preferred not to intervene if traders had acted ethically and not tried to take advantage of the consumers when they were forced to buy the masks to safeguard the safety of their families.
“We were forced to act to protect consumers after we started receiving reports of traders charging up to RM5 for a mask that is usually sold only at 50sen,” he told a press conference after chairing his ministry’s weekly post-cabinet meeting here Wednesday.
He said the government had to consider the possibility that consumers might be forced to use surgical masks on a daily basis if the spread of the flu got worse and the higher prices could place a serious financial burden on those with large families as the masks needed to be changed every few days.
Asked if the prices took into account claims by some traders that the more expensive masks were often imported ones, Ismail Sabri said the prices were set after checking the prices of both imported and locally manufactured masks.
He also said that the masks would remain controlled items until the Health Ministry announced that the country no longer faced a threat from the A(H1N1) flu.
He said that the ministry’s enforcement unit would start conducting random checks to see if traders followed the listed prices and also called on the public to report those over-charging to the ministry by calling its toll free line at 1800-886-800 or going personally to its nearest office.
Errant traders or suppliers face a fine of up to RM15,000 or a maximum of two years in jail or both upon conviction under the Price Control Act 1946, he said.

tunku : at last the made it controlled item now.thank you very much to the government. if we had leave the matter to ismail sabri,it will not have been done.with the current ceiling price of the mask, the manufacturer and wholesalers are making HUGE profit not just fair.now we hope ismail sabri will make his ministry's enforcement unit to make sure the mask are sold at the controlled price.