SHORT supply caused by a lack of foreign workers, unpredictable weather and middleman brokers are driving up the prices of seafood, vegetables and imported onions, wholesalers said.

Sing Kian Hock, chairman of Kuala Lumpur Hoi Seong Fish Wholesaler Association, said boats have not been going out to sea and the low catch is causing an increase in the prices of seafood.

“More than 50-90% of the deepsea fishing boats are not able to go out to sea. Penang is the hardest hit,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“The boats are sitting idle while fishermen bleed money from boat payments because they are not able to go out and fish.”

Boats have not been at sea simply because of a shortage of foreign workers. Many were sent back last year when the Covid-19 lockdown started.

“These boats typically employ workers from Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. They need at least 10 workers to operate,” said Sing.

“Without workers, these fishing boats are unable to go out to sea. Locals don’t want to do the job.”

This results in a short supply of locally caught fish, which then drives prices up.

“Our seafood is so expensive; people would rather buy chicken. At least it will feed an entire family,” said Sing.

Locally caught Grade A Kembung (Indian mackerel) is currently priced by fishermen at RM20-RM21 per kg.

When it gets to the wet markets, Sing said, the prices could reach RM26-RM27 per kg.

“Kembung is a Malaysian favourite. But for one kilogramme of kembung, you can only get around five or six fish and that’s just for one meal (for a family),” he said.

For other types of fish, the price of selar (yellowtail scad) is now around RM18-RM19 per kg while selayang (sardine) is fetching RM39 per kg.

Squid caught locally, depending on the grade – A, B or C – is priced RM43-RM44, RM38-RM40 and RM33 respectively.

Imported fish such as kerapu (grouper), tenggiri (mackerel), jenahak (snapper), senangin (threadfin) and ikan merah (red snapper), typically from Indonesia and Thailand, are cheaper.

But imported fish is not as fresh, said Sing.

“Imported fish is cheaper than locally caught ones as it takes two or three days for it to reach us, by which time it is no longer fresh and the quality of the fish is also not great,” he said.

“Our main supply of locally caught fish is now coming from Sabah and is air-flown to the peninsula.”

He said the lack of spending power among customers has also affected the sales of seafood.

“People may have lost their jobs because of the Covid-19 pandemic and most recently, with schools reopening, people have had to spend money on school needs, too,” he said.

“Whether it is customers at morning or night markets and even grocery shops, they are buying less when it comes to seafood.”

The trend is not limited to Kuala Lumpur but is also in Malacca, Johor, Perak and Penang.

“We are now seeing the post-Covid-19 effects in the seafood industry. We are no longer able to sell as much seafood as we used to,” said Sing.

“My customers used to sell around 200kg of seafood a day. Now, they can’t even sell 50kg a day.”

Kuala Lumpur Vegetable Wholesalers’ Association president Wong Keng Fatt said the prices of leafy vegetables have gone up around 30%-40% while other vegetables have become cheaper.

“Not all vegetables are costing more, some are cheaper now. The prices of leafy vegetables have gone up. Bak choy (Chinese white cabbage), sawi (mustard green), kailan (Chinese broccoli) are expensive,” he said.

“One kg of kailan costs RM7.50-RM8 now. Sawi and bak choy are RM5.50 and RM6 respectively.”

Wong said the prices of vegetables have been fluctuating due to the weather as well as oversupply and undersupply of certain types of vegetables.

“Before this, it was because of the hot weather and the vegetables were attacked by caterpillars. When there is too much of a particular vegetable in the market, the price will also come down,” he said.

“Tomatoes are now going for RM1 per kg, the cheapest it has been. After a few days, we will even sell them for 50 sen or 60 sen per kg. Cabbage is now at RM1.50 per kg and chillies, RM6 per kg, which is cheap.”

With the start of the fasting month, Wong said he expects business to be further impacted.

“Vegetable wholesalers don’t do well during the fasting month.

“During Ramadan, only certain vegetables are popular, such as long beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and cabbage,” he said, adding that since people do not eat out as much as before, sales to restaurants have also decreased.

At the mercy of middlemen

In the case of onions imported from India, Johor Indian Muslim Entrepreneurs Association secretary Hussein Ibrahim said prices have gone up 80% in a middleman-controlled business.

“Prices have been rising because importing from India is a bit difficult. We are not getting the products on time and even if we do, the middlemen have increased the prices,” he said.

“Whether the goods arrive or not, they tell us that they haven’t and use that as an excuse to raise prices. The middlemen are the ones controlling the prices now.”

Hussein said they have to go through three or four middlemen before they can buy onions from India.

“At every level, the middleman marks up the price. We have complained to the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs about this multiple times,” he said.

He added that the prices have been steadily going up since the movement control order was imposed in March last year. Prior to that, prices were stable.

Hussein has even switched to buying onions from China, Taiwan and South Korea as they are cheaper.

“We have stopped buying onions from India; the quality we are getting is also quite bad,” he said.

However, he said, despite being more expensive, people are still buying Indian onions for special occasions and festivities as they taste better compared with those from other countries. – April 16, 2021.