Recently,MalaysiaThe Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, a health think tank, has strongly recommended to the government to adopt a dual strategy to effectively reduce the sugar intake of Malaysians. The center believes that simultaneously increasing sugary drinks（The consumption tax of SSB and the removal of sugar from the list of subsidized items are the key to winning this' sugar reduction war '.

The Galen Center for Health and Social Policy not only supports Health Minister Zulipiri's proposal to raise the sugar tax to retail priceThe 20% recommendation further points out that if white sugar continues to be included in the regulated items under the 2011 National Products and Anti Profits Act, the expected sugar tax revenue of up to RM330 million will be difficult to achieve. According to the CEO of the center, Azru, the government pays subsidies of up to RM500 million to RM600 million annually to sugar producers, with a subsidy of RM1 per kilogram of sugar. These subsidies actually offset any potential revenue from the increase in consumption tax on sugar drinks.

sinceSince July 2019, the Malaysian government has imposed a consumption tax of 40 cents per liter on sweet beverages containing more than 5 grams of sugar or sugar based sweeteners per 100 milliliters. However, at the same time, as a packaged product, the price ceiling for sugar is artificially set at a lower level, with crude sugar not exceeding RM2.85 per kilogram and refined sugar not exceeding RM2.95 per kilogram. Azru pointed out that this artificially low price of sugar may lead to an increase in sugar consumption, which in turn aggravates the prevalence of diabetes and other non communicable diseases.

The prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia is worrying. According to the International diabetes Alliance（According to the latest report of IDF, one in every five adults in Malaysia has diabetes, accounting for 18.3%, which is twice the global average. This number is particularly significant among adults aged 18 and above, with approximately 3.9 million people affected by it. More worrisome is that if effective measures are not taken to control it, the number of diabetes patients in Malaysia is expected to surge to 7 million by 2025.

Faced with this severe situation, Malaysian sugar producers have also put forward their own demands. They stated that due to the increase in raw sugar prices, shipping costs, and natural gas prices, as well as cost pressures caused by the depreciation of the ringgit, production costs have significantly increased. Therefore, they call on the government to set a higher upper limit on the price of white sugar or allow the market price of white sugar to fluctuate freely to reflect the real production cost. Once implemented, domestic sugar prices may soar to per kilogram4.35 Ringgit.