BUKIT MERTAJAM: Consumers will be able to purchase four basic food items – chicken, eggs, sawi (choy sum) and long beans – at a lower price from Saturday (Jan 1) until Feb 4.

       Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry enforcement director Azman Adam said these four items were involved in the calibration of prices as a measure to stabilise goods prices under the Malaysian Family Maximum Price Scheme.

       "The new prices of these four items are involved in the price adjustment under the scheme, taking into account the situation and locality.

       "For example, the chicken price will be reduced from RM9.30 to RM9.10.

       "Similarly, prices of the other three food items will drop by between 5% and 10%," he said after the ministry's Ops Back to School and Festive Season Maximum Price Control Scheme walkabout at Mydin Supermarket here on Friday (Dec 31).

       Azman said a total of 25,897 business premises nationwide were inspected under the Malaysian Family price scheme with action taken against 85 involving compound notices worth RM20,000, as of Thursday (Dec 30).

       "Meanwhile, under the festive season price scheme in conjunction with Christmas, from Dec 23 until today, we inspected 7,178 premises and no action was recorded,” he said.

       He said under the Back to School operation, inspection and monitoring were focused on ensuring that traders did not increase the price of school supplies arbitrarily and complied with price control rules.

       "The ongoing operation, from Dec 13 until March 20, involves nine types of school necessities consisting of school uniforms, school bags, school shoes and learning equipment. So far, we have inspected 437 premises involving 1,858 items,” he said.

       In the meantime, based on the ministry's monitoring, the price of goods in flood-hit states is stable and no complaints of undue increases have been received.

       However, there was a temporary shortage in supply due to logistics issues, Azman said. – Bernama