KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has urged Malaysians to eat less sugar for health concerns, local media reported on Monday.

    Malaysia had one of the highest number of diabetes cases in the world due to high intake of sugar, local newspapers quoted Najib as saying.

    Najib made this remark when the country raised sugar prices by 20 sen (some 6 U.S. cents) per kilogram starting from Jan. 1 this year.

    Sugar is a price-controlled commodity in Malaysia and the government had to spend nearly one billion ringgit (some 286 million U.S. dollars) each year subsidizing and maintaining the low price of it.

    Despite the increase, the sugar prices per kilogram in Malaysia are still the lowest in the region with a difference of about 60 sen (some 17 U.S. cents) as compared to Thailand and Indonesia, Najib said.

    The Malaysian government also offers subsidies to a variety of other goods such as rice and fuels.