Bottles and packets of cooking oil were snapped up by consumers yesterday at various supermarkets and mini-markets across the country, The Star reported.

Yesterday, the Malayan Edible Oil Manufacturers Association (Meoma) said the price of some cooking oil brands would rise next month following the removal of the subsidy by the government.

The Meoma statement specified that the subsidies for the 500g, 1kg, 2kg, and 3kg bottles of cooking oil will be removed from Nov 1, and the 5kg bottle from Jan 1, 2017.

Some supermarkets in Penang reportedly ran out of cooking oil by the end of day.

A school canteen operator in Johor Baru told The Star that most hypermarkets and supermarkets had enough stock of cooking oil but this was mainly due to a sales limit of two or three bottles per person imposed.

“I need about five kilos of oil to prepare food for pupils in a Tamil school. Removing the subsidies is definitely going to affect the children who buy food in the canteen,” she said, commenting on the impending rise in the cost of eating out.

A fried noodles seller in Penang said however, that she does not intend to raise prices, because the current price per plate of her “char koay teow” was enough to cover any minor rise in costs, the daily said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani yesterday denied that prices of cooking oil would go up saying: “The people will not be affected and will continue to be subsidised.

“The cooking oil subsidy given by the government is used for export sales. This is what we want to control,” Johari said.