KUANTAN, April 5 — The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) has marshalled 2,200 enforcement personnel and nearly 1,000 price monitoring officers to monitor the prices of foodstuff nationwide in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
Deputy Minister Fuziah Salleh said the monitoring would involve not only the 22 items under the Festive Season Maximum Price Scheme (SHMMP), which will be implemented from today until April 19, but also other items nationwide.
“We monitor everything, every day we monitor more than 40 items at over 1,000 premises nationwide, including supermarkets, grocery shops, wet markets, public markets, and mini-markets.
“Every day, reports and data from across the country will be entered into the PriceCatcher app. So, we will ensure the supply is not only sufficient but also the prices of essential goods are controlled,” she said to the press after inspecting the SHMMP implementation for Aidilfitri 2024 at the LYC Sdn Bhd (Kemunting) supermarket today.
Fuziah added the scheme is important to ensure traders do not raise the prices of essential goods during the period.
The 22 items include local beef, except for batang pinang (tenderloin), imported beef, imported buffalo meat, ikan kembung, ikan selayang, ikan tongkol, and ikan demuduk.
Others are tomatoes, red chillies, imported round cabbage, long beans, cucumbers, sawi hijau (mustard leaf), imported old ginger, imported shallots, yellow onions, Chinese garlic, Indian red shallots, imported potatoes, dried chilli, peanuts, coconut, and grated coconut.
“Traders are required to affix pink price tags on the controlled items to differentiate them from the other goods,” she said.
Strict action will be taken against traders who fail to comply with the regulations under this scheme under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011.
— Bernama
