Malaysian Government Announces Plan To Stockpile Cooking Oil, Rice, Grains, Staples - Bloomberg

[hatrack]

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia, the world's second-biggest palm oil producer, plans to stockpile cooking oil, rice and other essentials to safeguard supplies and stabilize prices that have surged to records globally. An agency called the National Stockpile will be set up under the National Price Council, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur, today.

Malaysia, like China, caps prices of some everyday commodities to contain inflation after wheat, soybeans and palm oil soared to their highest ever. The country's inflation probably reached a 10-month high in December as food costs surged and floods disrupted supplies in parts of the country, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

``This buffer stock is to make prices stable,'' said Mad Nasir Shamsudin, professor of agricultural and resource economics at Universiti Putra Malaysia in Selangor. ``Without subsidies, there's no way we can go against price increases.''

India, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are among countries that have sought to control food prices to curb inflation and avoid social instability. Thousands of tofu and tempe producers rallied in Jakarta on Jan. 14 to demand the government lower soybean costs.

EDIT

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNhNoJEIM_4A&refer=home

[C_U_L8R]

1. first the oil wars ...then the food wars

[rooboy]

2. Don't forget the water wars. n/t

[patch1234]

3. simple alternative ... charge world price n/t