Around the world, sugar is one of the most heavily subsidised commodities. Eighty percentage of foreign sugar market prices are subsidised by their respective governments to match the price of sugar in the US, a value that is lower than production costs for sugar in those countries.

Sugar is expected to be in short supply worldwide this year because of erratic weather patterns, which disrupt production. Even though the Malaysian government asserted that there is enough supply of sugar, consumers in Malaysia are already thronging hypermarkets and supermarkets to get their supply of sugar.