The issue over the use of food grade insulated fish box is now settled, with fish importers agreeing to abide by the ruling,

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar said.

Fish importers had also agreed to end their boycott this afternoon, he added.

He was speaking to reporters after a three-hour meeting with fish importers at his office in Putrajaya, which was also attended by chairman of fish importers and wholesalers committee Yusoff Ismail.

Noh said that at the meeting, they thrashed out issues raised by fish importers including claims of monopoly in the supply of boxes and the question over the quality of boxes.

He said fish importers also wanted assurance that they would not be required to change the box for at least 10 years.

He admitted that the ministry had overlooked the need to allow the production of 30kg boxes with a subsidy of RM30 per unit.

Noh had previously announced a subsidy of RM50 for the 100kg boxes and RM30 for the 50kg boxes, with a total subsidy of RM2.4 million.

Malaysia currently imports 30 per cent of its fish supply, mostly from Indonesia while the rest are from Thailand.

Meanwhile, Yusoff said fish importers had been asked to resume imports this afternoon.

He also said that association members were satisfied with Noh's explanation including on the monopoly in the supply.

They were now allowed to buy boxes from manufacturers which offered lower prices, he said.

Earlier today, Noh gave an assurance that there is no shortage of fish in the market because only fresh fish imported from Thailand and Indonesia is in short supply.

Calling on consumers not to panic, he said they had a choice to buy local fish as Malaysia produced 70 per cent of the fresh fish supply in the market.

"There was no fresh fish imported from Indonesia today after importers and wholesalers refused to use the insulated food-grade fish boxes because they felt that it would increase costs and drive up the price of fish in the market," he told reporters after an inspection at the wholesale market in Kuala Lumpur with enforcement officers from the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority early this morning.

He said a committee had been sent up to monitor the increase in fish prices should there be a shortage in the market resulting from the boycott.

He said the use of the boxes was introduced in 2006 would be enforced in stages from today until Nov 1 and was not a sudden move.

The ministry would also subsidise the use of the boxes to the tune of about RM2.4 million.

"But it seems that the fish importers and wholesalers are still not satisfied and are raising various issues relating to the use of the boxes," he added.

Among the issues were that the boxes were expensive, that the use of the boxes would affect the freshness of the fish and that only one manufacturer was producing the boxes.

Noh said it was not true that there was only one manufacturer for the boxes because there were four.

He met representatives of fish importers from Indonesia yesterday and would meet those from Thailand today to discuss the matter, he said.

He also refuted an allegation by a Federal Territory Gerakan Youth member that there were irregularities in the use of the boxes.

- Bernama