MALAYSIANS, especially those living in Johor, have been advised not to emulate panic-buying Singaporeans hoarding necessities after the island nation raised the alert on coronavirus last Friday. 

Supermarket operators told The Malaysian Insight they have restocked their Johor branches several times this week and assured Malaysians that supplies are sufficient.

NSK Trading Sdn Bhd executive director Lim Ah Chuan said a large number of Singaporeans thronged the hypermarket’s Johor Pandan outlet near Iskandar Puteri.

“There were a lot of Singaporeans, but not many Malaysians though,” he said.

He said the NSK hypermarket chain has enough stocks and urged locals not to worry.

“Even if the supplies in the store are low, our inventory is enough for a month,” Lim said.

He told The Malaysian Insight that there are five outlets in Johor, two of which are close to Singapore.

“Singaporeans don’t just come to buy daily necessities on weekends but also weekdays,” he said.

NSK has 60 supermarkets in Malaysia.

Singapore moved up its disease outbreak response to level orange last Friday. So far, the island republic has had 47 Covid-19 cases, while Malaysia has recorded 18.

More than 1,000 patients have died in China from the virus, which was first detected in Wuhan in Hubei province. More than 42,000 people have been infected in 27 countries worldwide.

KK Mart’s Johor outlets also saw an influx of panic-buying Singaporeans.

KK Group of Companies executive director KK Chai said stock used to be replenished weekly, but now it is being done daily.

“Singaporeans and Chinese are coming to the Danga Bay branch because the location is close to Singapore and there are many Chinese living nearby,” he said, adding that branches in southern Johor also saw more Singaporeans.

Despite the customer volume increasing 30-40%, stocks are sufficient, he said.

“Generally, our distribution centre in Kuala Lumpur will send stock to the Johor branches once or twice a week but now it’s done every alternate day,” he said.

KK has more than 300 24-hour outlets across the country.

Since the outbreak in Wuhan, some 27 Chinese cities in China have been locked down.

Beijing is the latest to limit movement of its residents.

Lim said NSK used to import garlic from China but since the epidemic, it has been sourcing the commodity from Thailand.

“We pick up from countries other than China. For example, we also import potatoes from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. We have not increased prices and we have already stocked up on supplies.”

He said NSK has prior experience in handling the SARS and Ebola virus.

He urged the public not to panic-buy as he is confident the government could control the epidemic.

Chai said KK Mart has also stopped importing from China and has been taking goods from local manufacturers.

He urged Malaysians not to change their shopping habits. – February 12, 2020.