An adamant Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has again defended his controversial urging for a boycott of the Chinese over high prices, this time claiming that his statement was taken out of context.

He repeated to the audience of a forum last night not to prolong the issue as a racial one, but to focus on the intent of his message instead, which he said is to call on consumers to unite against traders who refuse to lower their prices despite falling oil prices.