Shipping blamed for sugar supply disruption in few Sarawak towns

Irregularities in shipping schedule are the primary cause of disruption to sugar supply in the market in Sarawak. Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) state director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman explained yesterday that the shipments came from Peninsular Malaysia and irregular intervals had momentarily cut off the supply of sugar to the market.

This had caused some locations to be temporarily drained of the supply.

There is actually no problem of sugar shortage in Sarawak. The delay in shipment has caused disruption to the supply of sugar to the market which is the main problem faced by the state.

The problem was more pertinent in Lawas as sugar could not be transported there by land due to the cost factor. The problem cropped up during low tide and help from counterpart in Sabah sought to ship from Sipitang to overcome the problem.

Towards this end, the stock of sugar was not less than 1,500 metric tonnes floating in the market per day.

Supply would increase by 15 per cent from their daily quota during festive season to cope with the surging demand for sugar.

Sugar was given blue and green tags respectively at the border. Blue tag indicated that sugar was meant for local consumption whereas green was for export.

To date, the authority had seized goods worth RM1.25 million for the first six months of the year for contravening nine acts.

The highest amount of goods seized were those contravening the Control of Supplies Act 1961, he added.

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