MANY in the Klang Valley believe it is more expensive to shop for groceries in supermarkets and mini-markets than it is at the wet markets but housewife Jamilah Yusof found out otherwise recently.

She is one of thousands of housewives who are discovering that the spikes in the consumer price index (CPI) translate to a lot more in sticker prices, no matter whether they are in air-conditioned supermarkets in glitzy malls or the wet markets operated by City Hall.

Jamilah gets RM1,000 from her husband for the monthly groceries and foodstuff expenditure and for the past two years, she has been spending it in markets and shops near her Rawang house. But a recent RM11 breakfast prompted her to go to wet markets in search of affordable ingredients to cook at home.

“It was so expensive,” Jamilah said, but even that could not prepare her for the astronomical prices of fresh fish, none of which were below RM10 per kg.

As a result, the RM100 that she brought last week to the wet market could only buy enough groceries to last her and four other family members three days.
 
Jamilah’s experiences at the Country Homes Rawang wet market recently is the real-world iteration of how high the CPI, which measures inflation on a monthly basis, has risen since the beginning of the year.

According to the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), the CPI tracks the rate of increase in prices for a basket of goods and services.

The Statistics Department said the rate of increase between January and March was 4.3% compared with the same period last year. Much of this increase was due to the rise in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages.

This category, which is the biggest chunk of the CPI registered an increase of 4.2%.

This may explain why Jamilah was shocked that the humble selar fish, which she remembered cost RM7 to RM8 per kg the last time she was at the market, was now RM16 per kg.

The jenahak fish was RM45 per kg while tenggiri was RM35 per kg.

Fishmongers said they no longer sold pricier fish such as kurau, bawal putih or cod for fear they would not be able to find buyers for them.

Jamilah was in for further surprises when she visited the stalls selling beef and vegetables.

Fresh local beef was selling at RM30 per kg, up from the RM20 she was used to.

“The stall owner told me this was already a good price. He does not know how much more expensive beef would get during Ramadan,” she said, referring to the Muslim fasting month which starts on the last week of May.

The experience was the same for vegetables, with tomatoes at RM4 per kg, bittergourd RM9 per kg and spinach RM8 per kg.

According to the Statistics Department, between January and March, fish and seafood prices went up by 5.2%, meat by 5.2% and vegetables by 7.4%.

“All the sellers blamed the increases on the GST (goods and services tax). But when I said all these items were exempted from the GST, they said petrol, lorry fees and plastic bags had GST,” the housewife told The Malaysian Insight.

After an hour of shopping, the RM100 she brought could only buy her 1kg of beef (RM30), 1 kg each of jenahak (RM45) and selar (RM16) and vegetables worth RM20. She had to fork out an extra RM11 for her purchases.

But Jamilah is fortunate she gets RM1,000 from her husband, as lower grade civil servants, taxi drivers and factory workers who earn only about RM2,000 a month make do with much less for their groceries.

According to a recent poll by the Darul Ehsan Institute, cost of living issues and good governance are the topmost concerns among voters.

The poll also found that 78% of respondents disagreed with the implementation of the GST, introduced by the Najib administration in 2014 and widely blamed for the price hikes.

About 73% of respondents also did not agree with the continuation of the GST even if it is a significant source of revenue for the country.

But it is more than just the GST that is causing prices to rise, say analysts, noting that currency fluctuations and better prices for such foodstuffs outside Malaysia has shrunk supplies,which in turn push prices up in the local market. – April 22, 2017.