SUPPLIES of subsidised RON95 petrol and diesel will be increased from tomorrow until May 5, to meet the demands of consumers during the festive period, Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Salahuddin Ayub said.

The minister said the move was to avoid the shortage of fuel that occurred last year.

“In conjunction with the Hari Raya, Wesak and Labour Day holidays, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living has approved additional quotas of RON95 and diesel for oil companies,” he told reporters in Pontian today.

In May last year, petrol stations reported supply shortages due to up to 50% greater demand during the festive period.

In another development, he said the ministry had received many complaints about traders not displaying price tags since the start of Ramadan, including those listed in the festive season maximum price scheme.

Salahuddin said the ministry had taken a softer approach by only giving advice to errant traders and that legal action would be imposed if they repeated the offence.

“So far there has been no violation of the maximum price scheme, only that the ministry has received hundreds of complaints about traders not putting up price tags and I found that it was the case when I made a surprise visit,” he said.

He added that there were traders in several locations who sold fresh chicken above the control price of RM9.40/kg because they claimed to be receiving the supplies via two to three layers of wholesalers, and were also forced to impose a cutting charge of RM1.

“We referred to the law, (that) when they (traders) display the price of chicken at RM9.40 and say they have a charge of RM1 for cutting service, as long as the customer agrees (to pay that amount) it is not an offence,” he said.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin said 90 Econsave branches nationwide were offering 500 tonnes of imported buffalo meat at RM14.90/kg compared with the ceiling price of RM20/kg set by the government. – Bernama, April 20, 2023.