NOMINATED Sabah assemblyman Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee has urged the state to consider import substitution following issues into Sabah’s supply chain.

The former Sabah chief minister said this over concerns on the affects of the rationalisation of diesel prices in the peninsula and congestion of the local main port to the prices of goods in Sabah.

“All economists agree that the withdrawal of the diesel subsidy in the Peninsula has price effects on goods in Sabah that will come with a time lag of 2 months, 3 months.

This does not yet account for the RM500, RM1000 shipping surcharge due to congestion at the Sepanggar Bay Container Port,” he said during the state assembly sitting in Kota Kinabalu on Tuesday.

He hopes the state government will pay attention to the issue, stressing that the trade between Sabah and the Peninsular Malaysia is at a deficit.

“We import more from the peninsula than we export to them. That is why containers from the peninsula coming to Sabah are full, but empty or half-empty the other way around,” he said.

Yong noted the trade imbalance is the reason why it will incur price increases in Sabah.

He also acknowledged that there are controlled goods, but the state also consumes non-controlled items.

“So, there will be an effect, and it has a logistics and chain reaction,” he said.

Yong insisted that the state to improve on the import substitution by pushing the production of domestic products.