Galen Centre: Remove price controls on sugar to reduce consumption, fight diabetes

KUCHING (May 19): The government should remove sugar as a gazetted item under the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2011 to reduce sugar consumption and fight diabetes, said Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy.

Galen chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib said price controls on sugar represented a key factor of excessive sugar consumption in Malaysians’ food.

“The price of sugar is currently being kept artificially low and under the ceiling price due to incentive payments made by the government to the sugar industry, resulting in Malaysia, a non-sugar producing country, to have among the lowest sugar prices in the world.

“Cheap sugar is driving higher uptake. These tax funded subsidies work against any ‘war on sugar’ and are expected to cost the government between RM500 million and RM600 million annually.

“It does not make sense to go to war against sugar but at the same time, subsidising it. These incentive payments should be stopped. With diabetes costing more than RM3 billion annually and other cardio-renal-metabolic diseases such as kidney disease, we cannot afford half measures,” he said in a statement today.

The statement was issue in supporting Health Minister’s recent call for urgent action on sugar consumption to reduce diabetes among the population.

In view of voices against banning 24-hour eateries, Azrul said studies had shown that eating at night led to twice as much weight gain, or 500 more calories per day than those who limited their eating to day-time hours.

When combined with sedentary lifestyles, he said it is not a surprise that at least half of the population are either obese or heading there.

He added that the costs of treating the resulting medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease was already costing billions each year.

“While it seems impossible to ban 24 eateries or limit a person’s freedom to choose when and what to eat, we propose that the government impose a 10 per cent midnight surcharge for all food and beverages sold in licensed food establishments between 12am and 6am.

“The funds collected will be channelled and earmarked for treatment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, hypertension and cancer,” he said.

Azrul said it is estimated that the amount collected from such surcharges could exceed the RM5 billion in sin taxes currently collected from cigarettes and alcohol.

He added that it would also help deter night-time eating while increasing the coffers needed to treat NCDs.

On the coming implementation of the Control of Smoking Products For Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852), he said the government must consider increasing the existing excise duties on cigarettes and tobacco products which had remained unchanged since 2015, and limiting nicotine vape to two per cent.

“The suggested excise tax rate is RM0.77 per stick, equivalent to 61 per cent excise tax of the retail price. This can generate additional tax revenue of RM771.8 million. Together with the expected tax collected from nicotine vape, this will bring in at least RM1.2 billion,” he pointed out.

According to Azrul, five per cent nicotine vape is commonly found in Malaysia.

He said the maximum nicotine concentration in countries which regulated vape was two per cent.

The government must place a hard ceiling on nicotine vape at two per cent to manage addiction and in line with the practice of other nations, he added.

“It is sobering to note that Malaysia spends an estimated RM16 billion annually treating smoking-related illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and lung cancer.

“How will we continue to pay for the treatment of these chronic diseases which will last for years and cost billions? The money must come from somewhere.

“With 70 per cent of the population dependent on the public healthcare system, this expenditure will come out from the public purse,” he said.