Cooking Up A Story?

What's up with the cooking oil story? All of a sudden, we hear of shortages of cooking oil last Saturday, leading to panic buying all over the country. The first news came out on Thursday in Pahang and Terengganu; then there was a limit on cooking oil purchases which brought the whole saga to national attention. Apparently it only involved palm-oil based cooking oils, and not others. Nonetheless panic buying occurred over the weekend, until most shops and hypermarkets were sold out! Then we have a minister saying that they will flood the market with cooking oil, and with that the whole saga ends. I think.

I'm still perplexed here:

1. Why is there a quota on cooking oil production?
2. Why is there a shortage of palm-oil based cooking oil, when we are the top palm-oil producer in the world?
3. Where did the government find that much cooking oil in such a short time?
4. Who is controlling the ebb and flow of cooking oil supplies?
5. Is this related to the sudden jump in CPO prices over the last two weeks?

In short, I just wonder whether there was any actual cooking oil shortage...or has the consumer been an unwitting participant in another government-orchestrated sandiwara?