The sudden price hike of cooking oil — what is the issue?The sudden hike in the price of cooking oil is of concern to all Malaysians, not only those from the bottom 40% income group (B40) and M40 who spend most of their income on food. Although the household expenditure on cooking oil is only about 0.42% of total household expenditure on food, the increase in oil prices affects prices of other food items, in particular for food away from home.