Panic buying by the public has led to some retail stores and supermarkets around Manjung running short of supplies, in fact some premises had run out of supplies since Wednesday.

According to grocery store owner Azmi Nor, 40, people have started buying bottled cooking oil since last week and he had to call the wholesaler several times to stock up his supply.

Azmi said there were some consumers who bought two or three 5-litre bottles at one time, ignoring his pleas.

“When a consumer buys more than what is required, how about other people’s needs. And when there is short of supply I get blamed for hoarding the cooking oil,” he told Bernama in Lumut yesterday.

Another consumer, Shahrudin Razali, 33, said he was disappointed because the cooking oil brand he wanted could not be found even though he had gone to several stores.

“Instead the only cooking oil brand available in the supermarkets were the house brand, this must be the effect of the announcement made on Wednesday,” he said.

On Wednesday, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Hamzah Zainudin announced that the price of 1 kg of cooking oil package remains at RM2.50 but bottled cooking oil would be sold at market price effective Nov 1.

Meanwhile, a check by Bernama at several grocery stores and supermarkets around Bagan Datoh and Teluk Intan found only packaged cooking oil were being sold at RM2.50.

A retail shop owner in Bagan Datoh, who wants to be known only as Zam, said the wholesaler had not been supplying him cooking oil since last week and he had to buy at the hypermarkets.

“Even though there is no profit made in reselling them I still do it because some of the residents here do not have the means to travel to Teluk Intan or Hutan Melintang just to buy cooking oil.

“If the supply of packaged cooking oil runs out I do not know where else to go,” he said.

A ‘pisang goreng’ seller, Samsudin Jaafar, 42, from Teluk Intan, said packaged cooking oil were still available at certain supermarkets and grocery stores but not bottled cooking oil.

“I still have supplies to last me for a few more days, once they are finished I may have to close shop,” he said.

Samsudin also expressed concern over the current cooking oil shortage as some traders may raise food prices.

- Bernama