By IANS
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysia, one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of palm oil, is battling an unusual shortage of edible oil and flour meant for making “roti”, the bread made of wheat flour.
The shortage, attributed to the high festive season demand and hoarding by unscrupulous traders, has led to rationing of sales to five litres of oil per person.
There was checking this week of passengers to neighbouring Singapore who might be carrying the commodity in their baggage.
The government’s civil supplies machinery also took stringent action against hoarders and middlemen.
“Sticky oil, flour crises averted,” a headline in The Star said a day after the government decided to flood the market with 70,000 tonnes of cooking oil.
The flour millers have agreed to increase production, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shafie Apdal said.
He said consumers did not have to worry about any impending crisis, as the situation was well under control.
“There will be no shortage of ‘roti canai’. At least that I can assure you,” he told media.
The Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners’ Association (MIROA) and Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners’ Association had claimed last Monday that there was a massive shortage of general-purpose flour in the market, and this had led to suppliers increasing the price.
With millers in the country being told to increase their production, there should be no shortage, said MIROA president R. Ramalingam Pillai after meeting Apdal.