The Malaysian Insight

JAIKUMAR Jabalan points to the small plastic shopping bag he is carrying in disgust.

“Three tomatoes, three potatoes and two cucumbers. That’s all I could get with RM10. And this is only for today’s meal,” said Jaikumar, who cooks for three at home.

“Prices went down a bit during the Raya festival but went back up afterwards,” he told The Malaysian Insight last Sunday, as he and his wife were leaving the Port Klang wet market after having done their shopping.

The couple’s frustration is shared by many others in the Klang Valley, who enjoyed an all-too-brief respite from high food prices during Raya.

Malaysians on social media said staples, such as chicken, beef and selected vegetables, cost less this Raya than they did last year because of wider price control.

But more than a month after the festival, prices of these items, especially fish and chicken, have gone back up.

Traders and shoppers confirmed this, saying the prices of poultry and tomatoes went up twice in just a month.

Ikan kembung, or Indian mackerel, once the staple of working-class Malaysian families, is now considered a weekend treat for all the Klang Valley consumers The Malaysian Insight interviewed.

The rising price of fish, the unofficial weathervane for food pricing trends, indicates that the cost of living is escalating.

The Statistics Department’s survey of grocery prices in May showed fish cost an average RM14.24 per kg.

In The Malaysian Insight’s survey of two wet markets and a hypermarket in the Klang Valley, ikan kembung was sold for between RM14 and RM20 per kg.

Dressed whole chicken, which was capped at RM5.99 per kg for 30 days during the Raya period has gone up to RM7.50- RM8 per kg at the wet markets, and RM9 per kg at the sundry shops and night markets.  At the USJ hypermarket, it was priced at RM5.99 per kg.

 

Of the 10 people The Malaysian Insight interviewed this past week, only Mohd Hafiz Jamain thought that prices stayed down after Hari Raya.

“A six-pack of Maggi Mee (instant noodles) is going for about RM4. Previously it was about RM5 to RM6,” said the 28-year-old clerk who was at the USJ hypermarket with his wife.

“At a sundry shop in Taman Medan, I got six big pieces of ikan kembung for RM5. Fresh, too.

“I feel that the prices are even better after Raya.”

Last month on Facebook, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail thanked Malaysians for informing him that prices for certain popular fresh foods had dropped this year compared with last year.

From May 29 to June 19, the prices of 27 items, including chicken, beef, eggs, tomatoes, coconuts and dried chillies, were capped.

In addition, 14 items were placed on the price-controlled list for the Kaamantan and Gawai harvest festivals.

Saifuddin’s post drew more than 70 responses, many of which said the items were sold below the ceiling price.

Mohd Ab Rahman said he paid RM30 for 1kg of beef in Terengganu the day before Hari Raya.

“Last year, it was RM34 and the year before that it was RM32… I hope that next year it will be RM28. Congrats, Dato menteri.”

Another Facebook user Aizam Amsyar Ammar Aryan said he was able to buy a kg of chicken for RM4.90 at a local supermarket in Johor.

Latif Ysuri, a beef seller at the Dato Keramat wet market in Kuala Lumpur, confirmed that most traders sold their supplies at below ceiling prices during the Hari Raya season compared to last year.

“Local beef was capped at RM34 per kg here but we were selling it at RM32 per kg. This happened for this year. Last year, everyone sold at the ceiling price.”

After the festival, however, about four out of 10 consumers TMI interviewed last week claimed that prices had increased, while one shopper thought they had gone down.

Of the other six, four thought prices remained the same regardless whether it was the festive season or not, and one was unsure. 

“Certain items came down in price but most remained the same. The last time I bought my chicken, the price was RM7.90 per kg,” said Suhaimi Sulaiman, 40, in USJ.

Klang resident Veeramani Baganathsingam doubted that consumers like him would benefit even if prices came down during the Hari Raya period.

“If you do your shopping daily, then maybe you can see the price fluctuations and you can buy when things are cheap,” he said at the Port Klang wet market.

“But I buy my groceries every week so I am not able to take advantage when prices are down.” – July 21, 2019.