KUALA LUMPUR: The government plans to further reduce the subsidised cooking oil quota to 50,000 metric tonnes, using the savings to help stabilise bottled cooking oil prices.
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the quota had already been reduced from 66,000 to 55,000 metric tonnes.
He said the reduction was part of efforts to improve subsidy management and curb leakages under the Cooking Oil Price Stabilisation Scheme.
“We have managed to reduce the quota to 55,000 metric tonnes, and we are targeting a further reduction to 50,000,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Armizan was winding up the committee-stage debate on the Supply Bill 2027 for his ministry.
He said the Cabinet had previously directed the ministry to gradually reduce the quota to 45,000 metric tonnes, but the target had not been achieved for nearly a decade.
He said savings from the programme would be used to support measures aimed at keeping bottled cooking oil affordable.
Armizan said the Cabinet had approved the proposal last Friday amid rising crude palm oil prices.
He said crude palm oil prices reached RM4,400 per tonne in October, potentially pushing the price of a 5kg bottle of cooking oil to RM34.
However, government intervention had enabled the ceiling price to remain at RM30.90.
Armizan said the cooking oil subsidy programme had placed a substantial financial burden on the government.
Although RM1 billion had been allocated for the programme under Budget 2027, actual expenditure had reached between RM1.7 billion and RM1.9 billion in some previous years, he said.
He said the government would continue reviewing the subsidy mechanism to ensure savings could be achieved.