There is no decision to increase the price of sugar, said Fuziah

Nibong Tebal: The government has not made any decision regarding the increase in sugar prices, said the Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDN), Fuziah Salleh.

Berita Harian reported, he said the speculation of the increase happened last April when the two main sugar producing companies applied to raise the price.

“So far, the Cabinet has not made any decision about it,” he told reporters today.

One of the issues raised during the By-Election (PRK) of the Sungai Bakap State Assembly (DUN) which is currently underway is the possibility of an increase in the price of sugar.

Commenting further, Fuziah said that he had answered the matter many times in Parliament.

He said that the two main sugar producing companies in Malaysia namely MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd (MSM) and Central Sugars Refinery Sdn Bhd (CSR) complained about their losses and informed that for every kilogram of sugar produced, losses were as much as 88 sen.

“Therefore, they are asking to raise the price. But what is the government doing? We are giving these two companies an incentive of RM42 million every month to stabilize the supply.

“We don’t want them to suffer huge losses until they stop producing sugar. So, we give them incentives to continue producing sugar even if they suffer losses,” he said.

Fuziah said that last April, the speculation about the price increase was raised again.

“This is because we are not sure when we will continue giving incentives. Until now, we are still continuing giving these incentives,” he said.

Fuziah was found at the Penang State Level MySubsidi Diesel Open Day Program of the Subsidized Diesel Control System (SKDS) 2.0 at Sungai Bakap, here.

The media last April reported that the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) announced an increase in the control price of sugar from the current RM2.85 per kilogram in addition to the issue of sugar subsidies being considered through a new price determination mechanism that should have been decided last June.