GOVT URGED TO SUBSIDISE COOKING OIL WITH PALM OIL TAXES
15 June 2021
By Wartawan Nabalu News
KOTA KINABALU: The government has been urged to use the taxes collected from the palm oil industry to subsidise all locally produced cooking oil especially when Crude Palm Oil (CPO) prices are high.
Former Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok said the palm oil industry has contributed billions of ringgit in taxes to the government since Malaysia is the second-largest palm oil-producing country in the world.
"Besides collecting taxes at all levels of the industry, the government also imposes RM16 cess for every ton of CPO.
"On top of that, the government also collects export duty when CPO prices exceed RM2,250 per metric ton and Windfall Profit Levy when the price exceeds RM2,500 per metric ton," she said in her press statement.
Kok who is also the MP for Seputeh added that based on the data of CPO export quantity and monthly average prices on the website of MPOB, the total export of CPO that can be collected by the Malaysian Custom from January to May this year is RM564,816,356.
If the CPO prices continue to remain high, then the government will be able to collect more than RM1 billion CPO in export duty for the whole year of 2021, she stated.
"The government has been subsidising cooking oil when the RBD Palm Olein was above RM2,300 per metric ton, but the subsidy is only to produce 1 kg poly pack cooking oil but not for 2kg to 5 kg bottled cooking oil.
"The 5kg bottled cooking oil price has gone up to RM30 to RM32.70 compare to RM20 to RM23 per bottle during the mid-year of 2019. This increase in price has raised grouses of consumers as it resulted in clear pressures in households," she asserted.
Kok stressed that it is time for the domestic trade ministry to review the efficiency of the cooking oil subsidies system (COSS) in the form of a 1kg poly pack as the system has resulted in many leakages during distribution and sales.
"The poly pack oil doesn’t reach many Malaysians in the B40 category, but instead it has been used by hawkers and restaurant operators.
"It’s also time for the government to formulate a new policy by giving subsidies to cooking oil producers when CPO prices reach RM3,500 per metric ton so that the government can fix ceiling price for cooking oil as a tool to control inflation."
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