HOUSEHOLDS preparing for Chinese New Year can expect to pay higher prices for fruits and dried seafood delicacies, and only marginally more for dried and barbecued meats as well as cookies.

The lunar new year is about a month away but traders of the season’s delicacies are not expecting windfall profits, with the country’s worst floods in recent history the latest factor to weaken consumer spending.

Before the floods, lower spending had been expected due to higher prices for all sorts of food items, on the back of Covid-induced supply chain and logistic problems.

Consumers will not be buying as much as they used to in past celebrations, predicts Kuala Lumpur Fruits Wholesalers’ Association president Chin Nyuk Moy.

She said they can expect to pay around 20% to 30% more for mandarin oranges. 

“For example, a small box of tangerines sold for RM10 to RM12 last year, but this time, the price will start at around RM14 or RM15.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed buying and gifting trends, Chin said, adding that companies used to place large orders for mandarin oranges to distribute to employees and as corporate gifts, but this is not popular anymore. Instead, consumers are buying them to give to relatives.

This is leading some fruit importers to reduce import orders for the coming Chinese New Year, preferring to sell less to avoid losses, Chin said.

Given the recent floods, she is expecting shopping sprees to begin only in the last two weeks before the celebration, which begins on February 1. In previous years, lunar new year shopping would begin after winter solstice, which fell on December 21 this year.

“I’m expecting the market to be very quiet.”

Dried seafood import and distribution company Soon Thye Hang is finding the current wave of price increases due to logistic and supply chain problems, and now the floods, to be a damper on consumers’ spending power.

“We were hoping for the market to improve by now, but it is quiet. People are more focused on flood relief. We were hoping that the market will be better next year, but at this juncture we are not sure,” said company director Chuah Seong Kok.

Cheah also said higher prices for dried seafood, which are must-have dishes in most Chinese households, cannot be avoided. This will affect scallops and abalone. Dried shiitake mushrooms will also be affected.

These items will cost 10% to 30% more, he said.

Unlike mandarin orange and fruit traders, however, Cheah said dried seafood merchants will likely not reduce their purchase orders so as to buffer against any unexpected shortage due to logistic and transportation problems.

“Even the orders we have placed, some have not arrived due to transportation issues,” he said.

Marginal price hikes for dried barbecue meats, cookies

Another lunar new year delicacy many Chinese enjoy eating and giving as gifts is barbecued meat. 

Raymond Khue of Khue Brothers Holdings Sdn Bhd, which markets its products under the Oloiya brand, said he had been hopeful of better business after seeing more economic activities resume and some retail sectors picking up.

“I did not expect the floods to be so devastating. This will surely affect consumers’ mood for Chinese New Year,” said the company’s executive director.

However, he said Khue Brothers will probably not make major price adjustments for its products as it uses locally sourced raw materials.

“Most of the pork is locally supplied, some sauces will be imported, but our situation is not so badly affected. We have not adjusted our prices for the time being.”

Cookie maker JMM Cookies in Ipoh said the prices of raw ingredients are up a little, so the retail price of their baked goods will be adjusted by around RM1 more.

“We will try to keep costs down and perhaps allow just a RM1 increase per tin of cookies or cake,” said JMM’s Helen Wong.

Her business has lasted eight years, specialising in new year cakes, pineapple cookies and black sesame cookies. Although there are customers, she said business is slow. – December 28, 2021.