2011 year of food crisis ??

Cooking Oil Crisis In Klang Valley Needs Serious Attention - Consumers

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (Bernama) -- Several retailers in the Klang Valley claimed that suppliers of cooking oil have cut sale by up to 50 per cent, resulting in them being unable to meet the demand from consumers.
Although last Wednesday, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said suppy would be increased by 14,000 tonnes to 84,000 tonnes this month, checks conducted by Bernama today found that most sundry shops had run out of palm cooking oil.
Sundry shop operator Bawa Baharudin, 49, said since two or three weeks ago, suppliers had restricted cooking oil sale to retailers.
"There had been no problems before and we could buy as much as we wanted, usually two boxes per day, but now they only allow us to buy one box which contains 17 packets of 1kg each.
"So, I too have to limit sale to one packet to each customer per day," he lamented.
Cold Storage spokesman Donny Rowlee, 24, said the supermarket had the licence to buy stocks of up to 1,000 kg per month, but their supplier could only supply a maximum of 10 cartons (200 kg) due to the quota allowed by the government for supermarkets, so they were told.
He said the shortage of cooking oil in the Klang Valley had caused panic buying among buyers, especially eateries and sundry shops.
"Last Thursday, we received new supply but by today it is all sold out," he said.
Ong Tai Kim (OTK) Supermarket merchandising manager, Kelana Rabian, said the shortage could have caused by the cooking oil subsidy quota which remained unchanged since four years ago.
"The quota is no longer relevant and it needs to be increased as many more supermakets and sundry shops have emerged," he said, adding that if the subsidy on the supply was not increased by 50 per cent, the shortage would not be resolved.
Kelana suggested that the government tighten enforcement on buying of subsidised goods by using a chip in the identity card to limit purchases and prevent foreign nationals from enjoying the subsidy.
Consumer Siti Nursara Osman, 43, who had just returned from a holiday abroad, was shocked to find that the sundry shop she frequented had run out of cooking oil.
Another consumer, Kuala Lumpur City Hall enforcement officer Hasliani Mohamad Hassan said the shortage of cooking oil affected food business operators most who she believed bought up the cooking oil until none were left on the supermarket or shop shelves.
"They will panic when a crisis like this happens, while 3 kg of cooking oil is usually sufficient for a month or more for an average family," she said.

tunku : for cooking oil it is not actually a shortage of production but it is because panic buying and because some of irresponsible sellers who hide the stocks just hoping for the price to increase to make huge profits. it is good move by the government to increase the production, flood the market with it and i am sure those who hide the stocks will have no choice but to sell it asap. the actual worries about food production this year are the imported especially from australia,china,india,pakistan etc. the products had been destroyed by the recent and on going floods situation in their countries. we can see prices for onion,garlic,fruits,vegetables have increase tremendously.our country is affected by this increase and shortage and i am sure it will keep increasing in the coming months.the restaurant operators too will surely increase the price resulting the consumers to spend more on food.so this year it is likely to be a food crisis year.