MEDC to increase cooperative DC under the price stabilisation initiative - Ewon

23 November 2023

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (MEDC), through its agency, the Malaysian Cooperative Commission (SKM), intends to increase the number of main distribution centres (DC) for cooperatives under the proposed initiative for price stabilisation of essential goods through the cooperative movement.

It's Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick stated that currently Sabah has two DCs with a proposed addition of one more DC next year, while Sarawak currently has two DCs with a proposed addition of five more DCs this year.

"The proposed addition of these DCs is implemented under the Cooperative Supply Chain Empowerment Programme (SCOPE), which aims to upgrade CoopMart as the cooperative distribution centre hi to increase the number of DCs and reduce logistics costs. Grants of up to RM300,000 are provided to eligible cooperatives for the development of DCs," he said.

He made these remarks in response to a question from Member of Parliament for Batang Sadong, Rodiyah Sapiee, who inquired about the findings of a study assessing the effectiveness of subsidies in reducing transportation costs of goods from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak.

According to Ewon, providing transportation subsidies for daily necessities from the Peninsular to Sabah and Sarawak through cooperative movements can help stabilise the prices of essential goods in rural and inland areas.

"MEDC and SKM have identified initiatives and mechanisms to help stabilise the prices of basic necessities involving cooperative movements through the provision of incentives to finance transportation costs.

"Through this proposed initiative, cooperative distribution centres or sub-distribution centres and CoopMart outlets in Sabah and Sarawak will help stabilise the prices of daily necessities in inland areas, as well as contribute to the income generation of the involved cooperatives.

"The details of this initiative are being coordinated at the ministry level and will be presented to the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) for allocation consideration and further alignment actions," he said.

According to Ewon, the proposed initiative to stabilise the prices of daily necessities is aimed at complementing the efforts carried out by the Ministry of Domestic Trade (KPDN) under the Rahmah price initiative to provide daily necessities at lower prices.