Not shortage, just running out — Director

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Consumers advised to go to the next shop if their favourite store has no more sugar

KUCHING: The ‘shortage’ of sugar in the state should not be exaggerated because the stock only depletes at the end of the day before the wholesaler replenishes the stock the next day, Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) Sarawak director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman.“It is only temporary,” he assured, adding that the reason why it seemed that shops ran out of sugar at the end of the day was because retailers themselves ran out of their sugar stock in the evening.

“Stocks will be replenished when the wholesaler delivers fresh stocks in the morning,” said Ahmad when contacted yesterday.

He explained that this method saved delivery cost since sugar was a controlled item.

Ahmad also revealed that based on MDTCC daily statistics the state consumed about 1,900 metric tons of sugar daily.

“MDTCC officers conduct checks every day on certain retailers to monitor the actual situation and to make sure that wholesalers actually deliver their supplies to the retailers rather than stockpiling them.

“If the wholesalers don’t deliver, they can be fined up to RM25,000 under the Controlled Items Act,” Ahmad clarified.

He said based on such monitoring the ministry found that if some shops had no sugar it was because they had run out for the day, which they would make good the next day.

In relation to that, Ahmad advised consumers in the state not to panic and

think that sugar supplies were running low just because it was out of stock in the shops.

“If your favourite shop runs out of stock, go to another shop,” he said.

Ahmad also suggested that retailers put up signs telling consumers to get their supplies from other shops if they ran out of stock.

“If consumers panic, they will rush to buy sugar in bulk till the shops run out of stock,” he added.

Meanwhile, in Serian town about 60km from here, sugar was said to have disappeared from all its groceries.

A coffeeshop operator, who spoke on anonymity, called The Borneo Post to say that if the situation continued most coffeeshops would have to cease business until the groceries started selling the item once again.

The operator said sugar had not been readily available in the last three days with yesterday returning a complete zero-availability.

“I would like to think that stores are purposely withholding sale to create shortage just so that they have reason to up the prices of the item and all those other items that use sugar as they know very well that people will be buying a lot more sugar between now and Gawai Dayak.

“The authorities must go to the ground to address the situation to make sure that the wholesalers deliver and the retailers sell,” she said.

A Bernama report from Alor Setar meanwhile said the Kedah branch of MDTCC had given the assurance that there was sufficient supply of the commodity in the state and denied that the price would go up.

Its director Salleh Ma’amor also denied that the rumour that the government would retract the sugar subsidy had caused the price to go up.

He said the situation in several areas in Baling and Kuala Muda, which were reported to be facing supply shortage, was not as serious as was reported by the media.

“The shortage could have been due to traders and small and medium entrepreneurs rushing to buy the commodity in large quantity because of the rumour that the sugar subsidy would be withdrawn,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Meanwhile, in Kangar, the Perlis branch of MDTCC said that sugar supply in Perlis was also sufficient although there were fears of supply shortage among the consumers lately.

Its director Mohd Abdul Aruwan Abdul Aziz said consumers were advised not to be too concerned to the extent of causing panic buying following allegation of a supply shortage.