IPOH: Cooking oil supplies have been restored in several supermarkets and sundry shops in the state, but some areas are still facing a shortage of the essential good.
Checks by the New Straits Times at hypermarkets here today showed that cooking oil supplies are back to normal.
However, there is a shortage of the item at a supermarket in Kinta, as the shelves were bare, especially of 5kg bottles of cooking oil. Among the missing brands were Seri Murni, Vesawit and Chili.
A grocery store worker, Linda Ahmad, 26, said the situation is under control today.
“Yesterday, there was not enough cooking oil. People were panicking and kept asking the staff here about cooking oil, whether we were going to replenish our stock or not.
“However, today, the situation is back to normal. We replenished supplies this morning and people started grabbing them,” she said.
Maimunah Ahmad, 56, said she wanted to buy cooking oil since yesterday, but it was sold out.
“I had to go extra miles to get cooking oil. I believe everyone is in a panic knowing that the government will no longer subsidise the item,” she added.
In spite of the subsiding panic, the State Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs enforcement division has been directed to investigate a reported shortage of cooking oil in the state.
State Consumer Affairs, Entrepreneur, Development, Cooperatives, NGO and Civil Society Committee chairman Datuk Samsudin Abu Hasan said he has instructed the division to conduct the investigation after receiving complaints of shortages in Bidor and Tapah.
“I personally went to check on the cooking oil supply in Bidor and Tapah today and apparently, there is still a shortage there.
“There was no bottled cooking oil, or even oil in polybags. I don’t want the suppliers to keep the cooking oil for their own benefit. They should not manipulate the situation,” he said, adding that stern action will be taken against suppliers doing so.