Anti-inflation task force chairman Annuar Musa said manufacturers had agreed to reduce their prices in stages, after discussions with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council.

However, the task force had called for the new prices to come into force within two weeks, Bernama reported.

“We also agreed to review the price on a weekly basis if the price cut is done immediately. The initiative was taken not to force any party, but in the hope the industry would take more responsibility and not leave it to the government.

Annuar said inflation had many causes such as the surge in demand after the end of the Covid-19 restrictions, economic policy in developed countries and the war in Ukraine.

In Tanah Merah, nearly 1,000 people from five villages rushed for packets of subsidised cooking oil at an advocacy programme by university students.

A total of 850 packets of 1kg subsidised cooking oil was sold within 15 minutes, said ministerial aide Zahari Kechik, according to Bernama.

He said today’s event had helped people from Kampung Jedok, Kampung Jedok Tua, Kampung Mok Jintan, Kampung Bendang Besar and Kampung Banggul Yek.

A rubber tapper, Wan Noriah Wan Ahmad, 59, said she managed to grab four packets of the cooking oil at RM2.50 per packet which will last for a month.

In Melaka, deputy agriculture and food industries minister Ahmad Hamzah said the national farmers organisation, Nafas, had been given approval to import chicken from abroad to create a stockpile to ensure consumer needs are always met.

Several cooperatives under the Farmers’ Organisation Authority were also given approval to import chicken from countries certified by the government.

Among the chicken plants approved to export chicken meat and chicken cuts to Malaysia are those in Thailand, China, Brazil and the Netherlands.