THE Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry cannot bring forward its Hari Raya Aidilfitri price control scheme to the beginning of Ramadan.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said this could cause prices to increase, particularly in cases where essential goods were already sold below market price.
"If we set the maximum price and the goods are generally being sold at lower prices in the market, consumers and retailers would be stuck."
He said this would, in turn, unfavourably signal to wholesalers who are selling below the ceiling price that they could raise the prices.
Nanta was referring to a New Straits Times report quoting Ramadan bazaar traders, who had called on the ministry to set its price control scheme earlier.
The operators had claimed that an average hike of RM1 on food and drinks at the bazaars was inevitable.
The ministry normally sets its price control scheme for essential food items two weeks prior to Hari Raya and one to two weeks beyond.
Traders and wholesalers caught selling items in the control list above the ceiling price could be fined by the ministry's enforcement team.
Nanta said the ministry was also extending the Keluarga Malaysia Sales Programme (PJKM) to address grouses relating to inflation.
The programme, initially scheduled to end on March 31, had been extended to June.
Under the programme, household items, such as chicken, seafood, vegetables, cooking oil, sugar, flour and rice would be sold up to 20 per cent cheaper than local market prices.
PJKM was held in all 222 parliamentary constituencies and had recorded 2.02 million shoppers, with a sales value of RM38.09 million so far.
The ministry had obtained Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's approval to extend PJKM until June following feedback from the public.
On Friday, this was expanded throughout Kuala Lumpur under the PJKM Ramadan scheme, which would run from April 3 until May 3.
The subset programme was to enable the sale of essential items, such as live, standard, Grade A chickens, Grade C eggs, red chillies, tomatoes, spinach, imported cabbage (Indonesia and China, but not including Beijing cabbage), long beans and cucumbers at marked down prices.
Nanta, however, said that this did not mean the ministry was not monitoring prices.
He said that the ministry was doing this constantly due to both pandemic-related shocks and the war in Ukraine, which had yet to make an impact on Malaysia's import and food supply chain.
Under the National Cost of Living Action Council, the ministry, together with partners such as the Finance and Agriculture and Food Industries Ministries, were also discussing the need to ensure sufficient food supplies while tempering the nation's high dependency on food imports and raw products.
He said the government had also discussed and allowed special permits for the import of food supplies and would review this decision from time to time based on the supply situation.
"I welcome complaints on price hikes. But overall, consumers and their activists have to be reasonable and understand that production involves cost.
"Even if the market price of chicken is at RM50 per kilo, for instance, but if no one is willing to produce it, we are back to square one.
"Please use all our (ministry) channels, including our social media pages to lodge your complaints. Don't just tell us barang naik (prices are going up). Give us information, so we can identify when and where this is happening and take action."