PUTRAJAYA, July 18 — The Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry (KPDN) will scrutinise the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) recommendations on cooking oil price control and subsidy management, including expediting the Cooking Oil Stabilisation Scheme System (eCOSS) rollout to facilitate targeted subsidies and address subsidy leakages.

Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said the development and implementation of eCOSS, which began in 2023, is now being carried out in two phases: the gradual enforcement of the system across the supply chain and its expansion through the eCOSS Mobile Application, which has been running on a pilot basis since May 2025.

“The full implementation of the eCOSS system is an important improvement and forms part of a risk management strategy to curb leakages by preventing the manipulation of manual records and misappropriation of supplies.

“The system will be further enhanced with the introduction of a new version of the identity card by the National Registration Department, which will give users the option of making purchases through QR code scanning for identity verification,” he said in a statement today.

Armizan said the move would allow targeted distribution and effectively prevent foreign nationals from making purchases.

He said KPDN welcomed the PAC’s recommendations on the management of cooking oil price controls and subsidies under the ministry, as presented in PAC Report DR. 27 of 2026 in the Dewan Rakyat on July 16.

KPDN will also look into PAC’s recommendation to redistribute cooking oil refining quotas in favour of competitive local companies to curb the dominance of foreign-owned firms.

“Since the Cooking Oil Stabilisation Scheme (COSS) was introduced, the government has not determined quotas for refineries. The selection of suppliers and refineries is determined by repackers based on factors such as logistics costs, credit terms, pricing, sustainable supply capacity, and the locations of refineries and repacking facilities.

“However, as part of the enhancement of COSS, KPDN is implementing phased intervention measures to encourage repackers to obtain supplies from locally owned refineries, including quota replacement requirements and a business matching mechanism between local refiners and repacking companies,” he said.

Other measures introduced to improve the scheme include prohibiting the sale of one-kilogramme packets of cooking oil to non-citizens, integrating eCOSS with the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) system, and streamlining enforcement efforts.

Armizan said KPDN was committed to strengthening the scheme by considering findings from internal reviews, the National Audit Department’s audit report in July 2025 and the PAC report.

“We hope that the PAC and all stakeholders will continue to support the steps and strategies taken to improve the scheme.

“This includes strict enforcement against refinery operators, repackers, wholesalers, retailers and any parties found to have acted contrary to the law,” he said. — Bernama