SANDAKAN – As Malaysians try to help people in need by providing food aid, mass purchasing of essential items from local supermarkets or markets for food basket donations may not be a good idea.
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry’s Sandakan chief Mohamad Hashim said even though essential food supplies are still sufficient, he hopes that those who want to purchase a high volume of essential food such as rice, sugar, oil, and eggs buy directly from suppliers instead.
“Sabah and Sarawak are already facing the risk of sugar supply shortage because there has been a delay in inspection, declaration and release at the port in the process of transportation from West Malaysia. The delay is expected to last about a week or two.
“As we are trying to manage the supply that we have now, sudden hike in demand from the retailers may complicate the process and would affect consumers here,” he said.
Meanwhile, a food hawker in Muhibbah Market Mile 3 here, Anna Rasmael said she found that most supermarkets in Sandakan have had limited stocks of sugar for the past week.
She said she needs about 4kg to 5kg of sugar per week for her business.
“Not only sugar, but also eggs and cooking oil. They are all sold out. Supermarket staff told me that a lot of people have been buying them in bulk to make food baskets for donations.”
The Vibes has approached a staff of an opposition MP in Sabah, who said the office of the federal lawmaker has been purchasing items for food baskets in the constituency from local supermarkets.
He said the food items included sugar, rice, cooking oil, canned food, and biscuits, among others, and was purchased with the RM300,000 allocation from the federal government recently.
On Thursday, the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry issued a statement asking NGOs and humanitarian bodies to stop bulk-buying from retailers for their food basket initiatives to avoid a sudden decrease of essential items in markets.
The ministry encouraged NGOs and humanitarian bodies to, instead, buy directly from suppliers instead of retailers. – The Vibes, July 10, 2021
