TRADERS' PANIC CAUSED SUGAR SHORTAGE

ALOR SETAR (Malaysia), Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Grocers' panic on sugar shortage
in the fasting month led many of them to hoard sugar and this caused shortages
in the northern state of Kedah.

Kedah director of the enforcement division of the Ministry of Domestic Trade
and Consumer Affairs, Mohd Salleh Ma'amor, said the enforcement division of the
ministry was monitoring the situation and found that sugar supply was beginning
to dwindle.

"I hope people will not panic and we have found that many food traders have
been buying sugar in bulk and that had caused a shortage in the state," he told
reporters after attending the lauch of the 'Price Tag Campaign' here, the
capital of Kedah state, Tuesday.

He said the enforcement division also monitored the border to prevent
smuggling out of sugar.
--BERNAMA