CONFUSION over whether the Selayang wholesale market is open as usual has caused suppliers and traders to suspend their business at the marketing hub.

This disruption in business is expected to cause a shortage of local vegetables in the Klang Valley until the end of the week, after they were told that the market is closed until Friday.

Perikatan Nasional insists that the market is open for business but wholesalers who showed up yesterday said they were barred from entering.

“Not one lorry or car was allowed inside. We were all forced to park on the roadside with our supplies,” said Malaysian Vegetable Wholesalers’ Association president Chong Tek Keong.

Chong told The Malaysian Insight the authorities told members that the market will be closed until Friday because of the enhanced movement-control order (EMCO) enforced in the Selayang area from yesterday until May 3.

As a result, wholesalers, who use the market as a logistics and distribution centre between farmers in Cameron Highlands and retailers in the Klang Valley, have suspended business, he said.

This means that supplies of local vegetables, fruits and fresh fish to sundry shops and smaller supermarkets from Ampang to Klang will be halted until Friday, said Chong.

KL Vegetable Traders’ Association president Wong Keng Fatt told The Malaysian Insight the market also supplied vegetables imported from China, Australia and Thailand to the Klang Valley.

Meanwhile, Chong said, when the market reopens on Friday, only Malaysian traders and workers will be allowed in.

This was conveyed to him by the authorities who cordoned off the market yesterday.

“Foreign workers will still be under quarantine,” said Chong.

“So, if the market is opened on Friday, we can only start small as we won’t have enough workers. Our members are also reluctant to order any more from Cameron Highland farms until it is confirmed that the market can be reopened.

“We are sorry if our customers and Malaysians in general face a shortage of vegetables. We hope they will be patient.

“No one is to blame. The government is right to lockdown the area, as we need to save lives and we are complying with that.

“We are not stopping business because we want to but because our own members and workers are also scared of getting the virus,” said Chong, adding that to date, seven traders have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

Farmers also hit

Local vegetable and fish supplies in other states will unlikely to be affected, as they source from other areas, said Chong.

Hypermarket chains, such as Tesco, Giant and NSK, will likely be able to maintain their supplies as they buy directly from farmers, Chong said.

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the EMCO yesterday, saying the area surrounding the market is on full lockdown to enable residents to be tested.

About 15,000 residents are expected to be screened after one death and 28 infections. However, Putrajaya insists that the market remains open.

The reduced demand for vegetables as eateries scale down operations has also affected output from farms, said Federation of Malaysian Vegetable Farmers’ Association president Tan So Tiok.

Cameron Highland farmers have lost a total of RM23 million since the MCO was imposed on March 18 and demand plunged.

At present, farmers there have reduced production by 20% to 30% and the lower supply will mean pricier greens in the coming weeks.

“Earlier, vegetable prices rose because of the dry season. The lower harvest led to a reduction in supply,” Tan told The Malaysian Insight.

Now that the Selayang wholesale market is closed temporarily, farmers will be reluctant to plant and harvest as they worry that they won’t be able to sell their produce.

The MCO was enforced on March 18 to break the Covid-19 chain, which has so far infected 5,425 and killed 89. Phase III of the MCO ends on next Tuesday. – April 21, 2020.