Agriculture and food security minister Mohamad Sabu said the supply of the more affordable local white rice has now stabilised and is being distributed to retailers according to schedule.

“Food problems in the world will never be fully solved until the end of time, but what I can say is that the supply of local white rice in the market is going according to schedule,” Berita Harian quoted Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, as saying.

There has been a shortage of locally produced white rice nationally, leading to dependence on more expensive imported rice.

The government currently controls the price of local white rice at RM26 per 10kg, while imported rice is sold at much higher prices, sometimes exceeding RM40 per 10kg.

There are claims that because of this price gap, local white rice might have been mixed with imported white rice to be sold at more lucrative markets, thus worsening the shortage.

On March 1, the ministry said the shortage of local white rice was due to issues with padi pricing, production costs, and the ceiling price.

On March 3, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim ordered the ministry to speed up efforts to restore supply and give regular updates to the public.

The domestic trade and cost of living ministry then revealed that millers have been passing off local rice as an imported variety to make an easy profit.