THE prices of imported vegetables have gone up 100%, the highest in 20 years, wholesalers said.

The surge in prices is mainly due to the rainy season and low output from vegetable farmers who are unable to keep up with demand due to a shortage of workers.

This has also been made worse by the rising prices of pesticides and fertilisers which have driven up costs.

The current surge in prices is temporary and is easily remedied once supply can meet demand, they added.

KL Vegetable Traders’ Association president Wong Keng Fatt said prices have not reached this high in 20 years.

He said the monsoon season and fluctuations in temperature were affecting vegetable growers who have not been able to meet market demand.

“At the same time, China has reduced its export of vegetables by at least 40%,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“Malaysia also imports vegetables such as broccoli from Australia. It has always been expensive but the price of Australian celery has also gone up due to transport costs.

“Thailand, too, has been affected by the rainy season. All this will lead to prices going up even more in December.”

Wong gave an example that out of 10kg of vegetables sourced from growers, only 8kg can be sold as the rest are damaged.

“Vegetables are not bought and sold at the same price. We must also consider storage. The longer we keep it, the cheaper we have to sell it as it won’t last very long.”

Earlier this week, the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) said the prices of vegetables in the market have gone up 200%.

Broccoli costs RM8/kg to RM20/kg, cauliflower (RM7/kg to RM16/kg), and sawi pendek (RM3/kg to RM9/kg).

Last week, the deputy domestic trade and consumer affairs minister told Parliament that the CAP’s claims that prices had doubled were unfounded as enforcement officers had found no evidence to corroborate them.

Wong, meanwhile, said CAP did not understand the dynamics of the vegetable market where prices are always fluctuating, as they are dependent on exterior factors.

Besides the weather, prices have also been affected by manpower shortage, high cost of transportation, while the cost of pesticides and fertilisers used by farmers has also gone up.

Cameron Highlands, the country’s biggest supplier of vegetables, is currently experiencing a labour shortage, which is driving up prices as farmers are not able to keep up with demand, he said.

“Last year’s monsoon season was worse than this year’s but this year, we have a severe shortage of foreign workers and the price of fertilisers has gone up drastically.”

The government put to a halt the recruitment of foreign workers in March last year when the country was put in a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. Recruitment has now resumed, but the focus has been on the palm oil sector.

Unfair to blame farmers

Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association deputy president Lau Weng Soow said the prices of some vegetables has gone up drastically as they are imported.

Broccoli has gone up by 95%, while cabbage and cauliflower by 80%.

In terms of locally grown vegetables, French beans cost more now as it requires a lot of manpower to grow, he said.

The unpredictable weather affecting Cameron Highlands is to be blamed as well, he added.

Lau, who is a wholesaler with years of farming experience, said it is regrettable that no one understands the predicament farmers are facing as they are being blamed for the rise in vegetable prices.

“It’s unfair to us as many people don’t know what goes into growing vegetables,” he said.

“They blame the farmers and wholesalers when the price goes up, but are they aware that the prices of fertilisers and pesticides have gone up as well?” 

Cameron Highlands Vegetable Growers Association secretary Chay Ee Mong said that in a meeting with the Department of Agriculture, the association outlined five concerns that needed to be addressed immediately.

They were: worker shortage, lack of farmland, production costs, climate change and competition.

Chay said he has written to the government several times to bring up these issues but nothing was done by the relevant agencies.

At the height of the Covid-19 epidemic, the association also informed the authorities that they were experiencing a shortage of locally farmed vegetables, but their solution was to import vegetables to make up for the shortage.

“Malaysia is not the only one experiencing this shortage. The whole world is experiencing supply chain issues, high fertiliser prices, rising transportation costs and manpower shortage.

“In Cameron Highlands, there has always been a shortage of farmland though it supplies one-third of the country’s vegetables. With the shortage of workers, even if there was land, we could cultivate it.

“We can only ask the government for help and wait. The politicians are not aware of our predicament, which is getting more serious by the day.”

Chay also advised consumers to opt for locally grown vegetables as they are cheaper.

He clarified that while broccoli can be grown in Cameron Highlands, it is of lower quality and not for sale except to tourists visiting the farms.

French beans now cost RM12/kg but he said the price for this bean has always been expensive due to labour costs.

For mustard greens, which have gone up from RM3/kg to RM9/kg, it is due to insufficient supply, he added.

The surge is, however, temporary and prices will regulate once the output problem is solved, he added.

Malaysia Federation of Vegetable Farmers Association president Lim Ser Kwee also agreed that the rainy season and worker shortage were the main causes for the price hike.

“Farmers are all farming at a loss. The cost to hire foreign workers has also gone up. Without enough workers, they won’t be able to plant more. Naturally this will drive up prices as there are shortages in the market.

“In my farm, we are typically able to harvest 18 to 20 baskets of vegetables. This month we were only able to harvest eight to nine baskets a day.

“On top of that, the prices of fertilisers keep going up. We can’t keep up like this.”

He said the only way to solve the problem now is to increase output by planting and harvesting more, which requires more manpower. – November 29, 2021.