Malaysian national dish may be off the menu: report

Malaysia's national dish, the roti canai fried bread, may be off the menu due a flour shortage that has hit on the heels of a cooking oil drought, a report said Tuesday.

The Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association warned that flour prices have spiked as supply shrinks, spelling problems for vendors who produce the crispy, flaky bread which is a breakfast staple.

"There will be no roti canai from next week. This is because we have run out of flour and are finding it tough to secure further supply at reasonable prices," association president Ramalingam Pillai told the New Straits Times.

Ramalingam said flour wholesalers were charging about 15 to 45 percent above the price-controlled rate of 33.60 ringgit (10.70 dollars) for a 25-kilo (55-pound) bag of flour.

"We cannot afford to pay more because we have agreed to the government's call not to increase (the) price of food. And at the same time, we do not want to bear the additional costs," he said, blaming stockpiling for the crisis.

"Is there hoarding of the item? The domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry must investigate," he said.

Malaysia last week imposed rationing of cooking oil as panic-buying triggered by rumours of price hikes stripped supplies from supermarket shelves.

On Monday the government said it would raise production with an extra 70,000 tonnes of cooking oil to be put on the market each month to ease the severe shortage.

this is a sad day indeed.very sad. :(