On Thursday, Melaka rural development, agriculture and food security committee chairman Dr Akmal Saleh had urged the government to restrict the purchase of locally produced rice to Malaysians as it was subsidised by the government.

Responding to a question from Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (PN-Machang) on whether the government would impose such a ruling, Mohamad said his ministry has not discussed the proposal.

Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, explained that the current shortage of local rice was due to panic buying after the recent price hike of imported rice.

“Previously, there wasn’t much attention paid to local rice, including from traders,” said Mohamad during his winding-up speech of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) mid-term review.

“However, when the price of imported rice increased, they started looking for local rice. Therefore, there was more demand for local rice, which had led to a slight shortage in the market.”

National rice importer Bernas recently announced that the price of imported white rice would be raised by 36%. In a statement, it said the price per metric tonne of imported white rice had been raised to RM3,200 from the previous RM2,350.

Mohamad today said the price of local rice remained at RM2.60 per kg, adding that there was no urgent need for the country to tap into its 900,000 metric tonne stockpile.

He was also confident that the current shortage of local rice would be over in a month.

The Kota Raja MP added that Bernas would remain the sole rice importer in the country as the government believed that the company had done well to ensure the uninterrupted supply of rice, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The minister said the company would be spending RM3.2 billion on 10 corporate social responsibility initiatives and had also agreed to share 30% of its net profit with 240,000 rice farmers nationwide.