From next week, a customer will only be able to purchase a maximum of 5kg of cooking oil at any one time. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal in making the announcement on the rationing of cooking oil today, said it was necessary in facing the cooking oil shortage crisis in the country. [Bernama]

Didn’t see this coming at all… cooking oil has been in abundance at the hypermarkets I frequent (in PJ/KL). It’s reported that Kelantan, Pahang, Melaka and Kedah were worst hit by the crisis and major supermarkets there were facing difficulty in replenishing the stocks.

Shafie has advised consumers not to panic as it would only worsen the situation. The irony is, the rationing exercise is certainly going to worsen the situation in short term… my first thought when reading the news was “better go and buy some oil ASAP.” I bet I am not the only one who is thinking about this… it’s not panicking; it’s just being a human.