Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Industry took on measures to increase supply of raw materials to stabilise market price and ensure sufficient supply for local demand.
MEASURES
- Production in the salt industry has taken a dip due to the impact from COVID-19. To ensure that sufficient supplies, the Ministry of Industry has issued import recommendation for nearly all processing industry. The Ministry of Trade will be issuing salt import approvals for the processing industry to fulfil the domestic demands for salt.
- Sugar corporations that received import permit are urged to carry out the processing of raw sugar to crystalised white sugar to bring down the price of sugar in the market and ensure sufficient supply ahead of Ramadan.
- In March, the government introduced trade measures to facilitate the import of raw materials supplies, such as the relaxation of import restrictions, reduction of import duties and expedition of import process
IMPACT ON FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
- The drop in supply of ingredients could result in the hike in prices of goods in the markets. It will be crucial to ensure sufficient supply through increasing domestic production and imports of raw ingredients which can be further processed locally.