GEORGE TOWN, Nov 2 ― Penang won’t be short of subsidised cooking oil anymore this week, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry said today.

The ministry’s Penang director Mohd Ridzuan Ab Ghapar gave an assurance that supplies of the subsidised repackaged cooking oil will be sufficient for those preparing for Deepavali, which falls on Thursday.

He said the disruption in supplies was only in the northeast district of Penang island last week as one of the factories repacking the oil had to temporarily close operations after a worker was infected with the coronavirus.

“This is because the largest cooking oil repacker factory in this district had to close for a week after one of its workers was positive for Covid-19,” he said in a press conference after a walkabout at the Chowrasta Market here to check on pricing of controlled price items for Deepavali.

He said the factory has a quota to produce 150 tonnes per month and produces the highest number of repackaged cooking oil among the 25 cooking oil repacker factories.

“Another reason for the shortage was because it was nearing the end of October and many of the other repackers are reaching their quota of supplies so they have to control their supply so as not to produce over the quota,” he said.

Mohd Ridzuan stressed that this shortage of subsidised repackaged cooking oil, which is sold in 1kg sealed plastic packets instead of in bottles, is only for last week in the northeast district of Penang island.

“There were no shortages in other districts in the state so repackers on the mainland have helped to meet the demand,” he said.

He said there were a total 25 repackers in the state who were given a total quota of 3,434kg in the state.

He said the ministry acted immediately after receiving complaints from consumers and the Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) on the cooking oil shortage.

In response to CAP's demand that the quota of the subsidised cooking oil be increased during this festive season, Mohd Ridzuan said the existing quota is sufficient to meet the demands.

“There was no such issue in previous years so there was no need to increase the quota, the shortage is only for one week, last week, now everything is back to normal,” he said.

Yesterday, CAP education officer NV Subbarow claimed to have visited 12 grocery stores on Penang island and could not find any subsidised cooking oil.

He said most low income families would buy the subsidised cooking oil, sold at RM2.50 per packet, for cooking especially during the Deepavali festive season as it is affordable compared to the bottled cooking oil which is more expensive.

He had asked that more of these subsidised repackaged cooking oil be supplied to grocery stores especially during festive seasons to meet the demand.

Earlier, Mohd Ridzuan also checked on the prices of the 11 items listed under the Deepavali Festive Season Maximum Price Scheme.

The 11 items included chicken, eggs, imported lamb, tomatoes, red chilies, coconuts and grated coconut.

He said the prices of the items under the scheme must either be sold at the maximum price set or below during this period from November 1 to 7.

He said the ministry will continue to conduct enforcement checks at various locations including supermarkets, wet markets and farmers' markets to ensure that all vendors adhere to the maximum price set for these items.