CONSUMERS are spending more cautiously ahead of the Hari Raya celebrations as inflation hits food items such as beef and seafood, say traders. 

“Although more people are coming out to buy beef ahead of the Raya celebrations, they are buying less,” said beef seller Khairul Anwar Ab Majid. 

He said although Muslims are excited by the prospect of celebrating Raya again after the Covid-19 pandemic had dampened celebrations, they are more cautious. 

“Previously, Muslim buyers used to buy 10kg of beef, but now they only buy 3kg,” he said. 

“This is worse than during the lockdowns.” 

According to Khairul, local and imported beef prices have generally risen 20% to 30% due to higher transportation costs.

“Importing from Australia, Indonesia and Thailand now costs more due to the rise in oil prices. Some imports have gone up by more than 50%.”

“Beef ribs, which used to cost RM38 per kg, are now RM60 per kg,” said Khairul.

Besides the rise in oil prices, Khairul said that the ringgit’s depreciation has made imports more costly.

After hovering around the 4.22 range, the ringgit on Friday fell to 4.32, the lowest since May 2020, against the US dollar due to a hawkish US Federal Reserve policy and weakening Chinese yuan.

But while oil prices and currency depreciation have caused the prices of goods to rise, the government said inflation is still manageable due to subsidies for petrol, etc.

According to the Statistics Department, inflation rose by 2.2%, mainly driven by food and non-alcoholic beverages. 

“Imported beef is becoming very expensive. People used to say that seafood is a luxury. This is the same for beef ribs,” said the beef trader. 

More than that, Khairul said that domestic wages have not risen, leading to lower spending power. 

Seafood, vegetables not spared

Beef is not the only food item that has risen in costs as seafood is also priced 20% higher due to inadequate supply. 

“More than half of our domestic fishing boats are not at sea, so local catches have decreased by 30%. 

“The fishermen do not have enough foreign workers to go out to sea to fish. At present, most of them rely on imported seafood,” said KL Hoi Seong Fish Wholesaler Association president Sing Kian Hock. 

He said that during Hari Raya season, squid, stingray, red snapper and crab are in high demand, all with price hikes of 20%.

“Most stingray and red snapper are imported from Indonesia.” 

He said that the price of imported fish is acceptable, they are not as fresh as local catches.

“Eating seafood is now a luxury, and it’s getting more expensive because there’s less production.”

But while vegetable prices have also risen, KL Vegetable Traders’ Association president Wong Keng Fatt said it is manageable as there is lower demand for it during the Hari Raya season.

“Muslims usually focus on meat and not vegetables during Raya,” said Wong. 

He admitted that since the pandemic began, coupled with inflation and rising transportation costs, vegetables that used to be available for RM1 to RM2 no longer cost that much. 

“The price of vegetables in the vegetable market is generally RM4 to RM5, at least doubling the price of vegetables. The days of RM1 and RM2 vegetables are gone.”

However, Wong said that due to factors such as insufficient manpower for vegetable farmers, the output was reduced. Even though the demand decreased during this period, the vegetable sellers did not lose much. 

He said that since the outbreak of infection clusters in wholesale markets, 30% of customers have been lost, mainly to vegetable farmers in Cameron Highlands who sell vegetables online.

The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry recently announced that there will be price controls for 22 food items including beef, seafood and vegetables from April 26 to May 6 during the Hari Raya celebrations. – April 25, 2022.