Eggs shortage issue to be discussed at Cabinet meeting today - Annuar

KUALA LUMPUR: Recommendations to overcome the shortage of certain grades of eggs will be brought to the Cabinet meeting today, said the Special Task Force On Jihad Against Inflation chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

He said only eggs that were subject to price controls are experiencing a shortage in the market due to government subsidies allegedly not being attractive enough for producers.

"The grade A, B and C eggs are subjected to price controls to prevent prices from going up too high and the government intervenes to provide subsidies of three cents continuously. The government has to pay RM34 million per month to subsidise those eggs.

"Producers and distributors claim the three cents subsidy are not attractive enough because their costs are higher, so they produce more eggs that are not subjected to price controls (Omega-grade and other grades)," he told a press conference yesterday.

Annuar, who is also Communications and Multimedia Minister, said the recommendation given at today's committee meeting was to revise the amount of subsidy for grades A, B and C.

"Since this is beyond the scope that can be approved by the committee, this matter will be brought to the Cabinet tomorrow because any increase (in subsidy) will have implications on the government's finances," he said.

On the supply of cooking oil, he said the committee will propose to the Cabinet meeting tomorrow to obtain approval for an additional supply of 5,000 metric tonnes of cooking oil.

He said this allows the additional supply of subsidised oil in plastic packets to balance the existing supply of 60,000 metric tonnes and further ensure that the supply reaches certain platfroms, including the Keluarga Malaysia Jualan Murah (JMKM) programme.

"Then the number of cooking oil in plastic packets at the price of RM2.50 can be increased so that more people can subsidised cooking oil in plastic packets," he said.

Meanwhile, Annuar said JMKM is being implemented at 585 premises nationwide, the most since it was launched which represents 92 per cent of the targeted number of premises set for the programme.

Commenting on JMKM @ DE Dagang by the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) from Sept 19 to 25, he said an estimated 15 million people have benefitted from the programme in the form of discounts, rebates and delivery subsidies for goods purchased online.

Annuar said about 49,000 out of a total of 241,000 traders were new traders with some 91,000 female traders also benefiting from the programme.

He said a total of RM741.38 million worth of sales was generated through the programme and a total of 15 million purchase transactions were recorded since the programme was launched.

-- BERNAMA