THE Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy has backed Deputy Health Minister Datuk Lukanisman Awang Sauni’s recent call for increased attention and commitment to prevent and reduce the spread of diabetes in Malaysia.
The health think tank also called for the removal of sugar as a gazetted item under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 to bolster preventive health effort and harmonise policies that directly impact the wellbeing of Malaysians.
“Malaysia currently has one of the lowest sugar prices in the world. They are lower than those in sugar-producing countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines,” Galen Centre CEO Azrul Mohd Khalib pointed out in a statement on Thursday (May 9).
“This is not something to be proud of. It has a direct implication on the continued and uncontrolled spread of diabetes in this country, causing cardio-renal-metabolic diseases such as chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, which bring about premature death.”
Citing a report that seven million Malaysian adults aged 18 years and above are estimated to be living with diabetes by 2025, Azrul noted that the rate of diabetes is among the highest in the world, with more than five million or 16% of the adult population are living with chronic kidney disease, many of whom are also diabetic.
He went on to note that childhood diabetes is also on the rise, with a third of children being overweight or obese, and consume carbonated drinks.
Obese children have approximately four times greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than those with a normal weight, he added.
According to Azrul, price controls on sugar are a key enabling factor of excessive sugar consumption in our food, with artificially cheap sugar driving higher sugar uptake.
“Sugar prices in Malaysia are currently capped at RM2.85 per kg for coarse sugar and RM2.95 per kg for refined sugar. It has been that way since 2018,” he stated.
“Ironically, these prices are lower than neighbouring countries from whom Malaysia imports raw sugar. However, the operational cost to produce the retail sugar is actually around RM3.85.”
Azrul said as a result of price controls and despite the fact that sugar subsidies were abolished since Oct 2013, the government was forced to provide incentive payments, or more accurately, subsidies to sugar manufacturers since Nov 2023 to the tune of RM1 per kilogramme of sugar for raw sugar and refined sugar.
“This translates to around RM42 mil monthly and between RM500 mil to RM600 mil yearly. This should not have happened,” he added.
To address this problem, Azrul stressed that sugar should no longer be a controlled item, and that the government should either float or increase the ceiling price of sugar.
“It should certainly not be continuing to subsidise or provide incentive payments to sugar manufacturers to make up the difference between production cost and retail prices,” he said.
“With the cost of raw materials increasing and our currency value fluctuating, this gap will continue to increase, leading to larger subsidies in the future. Malaysians need to wean themselves off this artificially cheap sugar.” – May 9, 2024
Main pic credit: The Malaysian Reserve
