Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi. – Photo by Tan Song Wei
KUCHING: The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) would like to assure consumers that there is sufficient supply of basic items in all retail sectors in the market as to allay fears of panic buying.
“The results from our daily survey have concluded all business premises at the manufacturing, wholesale and retail levels are operating as usual. This would lead to stable and sufficient supply of basic items in the market,” said its minister Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi in a statement.
He said scenes of panic buying were seen to be happening in a number of areas in the country and one of the reasons might be the anticipation of the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement on Monday on the government’s next course of actions following the surge in new Covid-19 cases.
“The current situation is different compared when the Movement Control Order was first imposed on March 18 when most of the business premises were ordered to close and this affected the supply of basic items in the market,” said Nanta.
He pointed out the ministry had been consistently monitoring the supply of basic goods such as sugar, cooking oil, rice, wheat flour, chicken, vegetables, eggs, white bread, powdered milk, onions, face masks and hand sanitisers throughout the country to ensure sufficient supply and easily accessible by members of the public.
The surveys were carried out at 2,711 dedicated district retailers, 1,039 dedicated district wholesalers and 223 dedicated district manufacturers in all districts across the country.
Nanta pointed out the supply of basic items in the market was under control and the public is advised to avoid panic buying that would create shortage of goods in the market.
“All enforcement personnel of the ministry in every state will continue to actively carry out monitoring daily in ensuring sufficient basic items supply to the consumers,” said Nanta.